Human subject research ethics in software engineering

Abstract

Human subject research ethics is a matter of regulation since the end of World War II. Since then, social and health sciences have established a sound basis for reducing risks in the involvement of human beings in research. A key factor for human subjects’ protection is the Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) that analyze if a given project respects ethical principles. Presently, Software Engineering research and industrial activities systematically involve people, but these projects are seldom submitted to IRBs. The established model for research project analysis by ethics committees has been based on healthrelated researches, in which risks to human life and health can be threatening. Although risks are lower, Software Engineering projects can bring harm to people. This paper discusses the need of submission of Software Engineering projects that involve humans to IRBs. Resources to aid the researcher in considering common risks in such projects are proposed.

Keywords: research with human subjects, ethics, software engineering.