Current regulatory trends, policies, and procedures greatly affect social studies research using human subjects and evaluation of that research. The legal source of protection of human subjects is the National Research Act of 1974. The law stipulates that rights of research subjects must be protected and that the responsibility is on the…

There are differences between biomedical and educational research. The procedures associated with the protection of research participants cannot be transplanted from the medical setting into the educational setting in unmodified fashion without dislocation of many segments of educational research and development. (Author/EB)

Regulations for the protection of human subjects have been introduced by the Federal government to try to mediate among the different special interest groups seeking or resisting regulations affecting the conduct of research. Educational researchers have been particularly resistant to regulations. The risks in conducting educational research are…