Protecting Research Subjects, Employees and Researchers: Implications for Software Engineering

Abstract

Human subjects research entails risks for subjects and, to a lesser extent, for researchers. This paper introduces the common types of risks to subjects of empirical software engineering research, and how risk can be a function of the context in which the research is conducted. Risks for researchers are also discussed. Government regulation of the ethics of human subjects research is introduced using the example of the Common Rule that governs much human subjects research taking place in the United States.