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Sissela Bok, PhD

JAMA. 1992;267(8):1118-1119.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

Investigators examining such practices as alcohol or other drug abuse, incest, and family violence often confront a difficult dilemma in obtaining the informed consent of those persons whom they wish to enlist as subjects in prospective studies. They know that the canons of research ethics require them to see to it that each subject is "adequately informed of the aims, methods, anticipated benefits, and potential hazards of the study and the discomforts it may entail"^1,2; they know, further, that each subject's consent, if given, must be entirely free, "without the intervention of any element of force or fraud."³ Yet they recognize that many individuals, if informed of the aims of such a study, will choose not to participate, no matter what assurances are made regarding confidentiality or anonymity, and that the results will therefore be biased from the outset. Those who do consent to taking part in the . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
From the Department of Philosophy, Brandeis University, Waltham, Mass.

Footnotes
Reprint requests to Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, 202 Junipero Serra Blvd, Stanford, CA 94305 (Dr Bok).

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