Currently, Some Countries Do Not Require IRB Approval Before You

Essay

Currently, some countries do not require IRB approval before you can conduct research with human participants, nor do these countries have any sort of review entities that are equivalent to an Institutional Review Board. At a recent conference, a fellow researcher suggested you consider conducting research in one such country (i.e., Methodia [a fictional country used for the sake of argument]), to avoid the overly burdensome and excessive red tape of your institution's IRB. Technically, this would not violate federal guidelines for participant protections if you did not represent yourself as a member of your home institution - so you decide to do it. What are the ethical implications of such a practice? Is what you are doing ethical - why or why not? How might this impact the process and integrity of conducting research in the US and at your home institution, both for yourself and for other researchers?