Summary: Ethical Review Of Capote's Research

Ethical Review of Capote’s Research
Potter Stewart once said, “Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have the right to do and what is right to do” (Coffey, 2013). The movie Capote follows Truman Capote as he researches the murders of the Clutter family (Miller, 2005). During the study, many ethical dilemmas arose. Ethics is important within research, including nursing research, to ensure that accurate information is provided, trust is maintained, and there is a benefit to the information being provided. However, the benefits from the data collected cannot outweigh the potential harm to participants. In addition, ethics is important to ensure human rights are honored. This paper reviews what Capote did to conduct his research and

The code stated that all research should have voluntary participants and consent needed to be obtained. Over the mid-to-late 1900s, more guidelines were formed to guide ethical research such as the Helsinki Declaration, National Research Act, Belmont Report, and Code of Federal Regulations (Resnik 2022; UNLV, 2023). Many of these contained similar themes including informed consent, weighing benefits versus risks, and protection of vulnerable populations (UNLV, 2023). However, there were still research studies that did not uphold these guidelines. This led to the introduction of one general framework known as the Common Rule in 1991 (Resnik, 2022). In addition, steps were taken in 1970 to create boards to review and monitor research. This is known as an Institutional Review Board (IRB). Ethics has been evolving since the 1900s and continues to evolve today. There are general guidelines within research, and then within certain disciplines such as nursing there are further guidelines such as the Ethical Guidelines in the Conduct, Dissemination, and Implementation of Nursing Research (Polit & Beck, 2021). Truman Capote’s research for his book In Cold Blood was conducted during the time that research started to take a turn towards what it is

This source is available to ensure a patient’s rights are maintained and all research is conducted in an above-board fashion. This external review is the IRB. During Truman Capote’s research, there was no IRB monitoring. There was no approval before the conduction of the study. In addition, there was no other external ethical review community to monitor the research. Those involved included the two researchers, Truman Capote and Harper Lee, and the New York Times editor, William Shawn, who was not an impartial third party (Miller,