The Belmont Report Principle #3: Justice

The third Belmont principle is justice. This principle is important to keep in mind when selecting a sample for the study. Selection of research participants should be unbiased and fair. It should be taken into account who may benefit from the study. The researcher should make sure not to exclude a certain group from the study to deprive them of certain benefits.

Think about medical tests. If you are testing a new drug that can potentially cure a life-threatening disease, you will have to select a sample for your test and exclude others. Then you should not discriminate against a particular group of individuals intentionally. For example, samples should not be intentionally selected from an underdeveloped third world country for the ease of the experiments because these countries might not have human subject protection regulations that researchers need to adhere to.

Keep the following questions in mind when making an ethical sample selection.

• Does recruitment for the study target the population that will benefit from the research?
• Does the recruitment unfairly target a population?
• Are the inclusion/exclusion criteria fair?