Standard V - Ethics

Ethics - Candidates conduct research and practice using accepted professional and institutional guidelines and procedures.

Artifact 21. CITI Program Certificate.

Artifact Description:

In the Fall of 2019, I completed the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) training program under requirements by Duquesne University for Investigators and staff involved primarily in Social/Behavioral Research with human subjects. I obtained a CITI certificate after the completion of the required and elective modules. The modules that I completed in the training program included Belmont Report and its principles, Conflicts of interest in Human subjects research, History and ethical principles, The federal regulations, Defining research with human subjects, and Student in Research, etc.

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Reflection and Rationale:

Through completing the modules in the CITI program, I read a variety of documents and learned about some unethical experiments in history. For example, The Belmont Report educated me about the ethical principles and guidelines for the protection of human subjects of research. The CITI program was essential in that it enriched my knowledge in important procedures in behavioral research such as informed consent, assessing risk, and privacy and confidentiality. The modules refreshed my knowledge of the correct procedures and guiding principles in conducting educational research in public elementary and secondary schools. The completion of the CITI program enabled me to compose my first IRB protocol for a pilot study. After I received approval from the IRB at Duquesne University, I conducted the pilot study and followed the ethical principles in the research. I strive to apply the ethics knowledge from the CITI program to my future research when working with human subjects.