Learning Objective #1: Identify ethical problem of research in Japanese nursing education

Learning Objective #2: Discuss what is necessary to protect research participants' rights

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yAimzTo examine ethical problems of research in nursing education. yMethodzResearch abstracts concerning nursing education were collected from the 1999-2003 proceedings from five major Japanese nursing academic societies.2153 abstracts were analyzed using a format that consisted of research objective, method, ethical problems and so on. Ethical problems were analyzed based on the following points: 1) the participants' consent, 2) anonymity of participants, 3) the compelling force on data collection, and 4) the burden of data offering. During the analyzing process, several meetings were held to enhance the validity of each judgment. yFindingszThe following points became clear as a result of comparing this study with our previous study that analyzed research in nursing education from 1989 to 1998. 1) The ratio of research with no ethical problems had increased. 2) The ratio of research clearly mentioning participants' consent had increased. 3) The ratio of research having the possibility that compelling force acted on data collection had increased. Compelling force may exist in the research that has no indication of the data collection rate or has a high data collection rate. 4) The ratio of research that did not keep the anonymity of the participants had increased, in that it clearly mentioned the name of the educational institution of the subjects. yConclusionzThis study indicated the possibility that voluntary participation was not substantially guaranteed even if the researcher received the participants' consent. In addition, it indicated a problem that the consciousness of a researcher in regards to anonymity was not sufficient.