Evaluating Payment to Participate in Research: Ethical and Regulatory Issues

According to the US Office for Human Research Protections, paying individuals to participate in research is “a common and, in general, acceptable practice.” At the same time, both the Common Rule and FDA regulations instruct researchers and IRBs to minimize the possibility of coercion and undue influence during informed consent, which has often been interpreted as placing limits on acceptable payment amounts.

In this webinar, Luke Gelinas, IRB Chairperson at Advarra, proposes a practical framework for evaluating offers of payment and applies it to case studies to yield guidance on challenging ethical and regulatory issues involved in paying research subjects.

Learning Objectives:

1. Analyze case studies aimed at drawing out challenging ethical and regulatory aspects of paying research subjects.
2. Define the key regulatory terms of “coercion” and ”undue influence” and the main risk of payment in relation to these concepts.
3. Describe and apply a practical framework for evaluating payment that stresses the importance of being clear about why payment is being offered: as reimbursement, compensation, or recruitment incentive.

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