Reference no: EM133225981

The design of small N studies sometimes addresses ethical concerns themselves, specifically in animal research involving surgery, as higher N samples acquire greater ethical considerations (Goodwin and Goodwin, 2017). For example, Page et al. (2016) discuss ethical issues regarding animals with cancer which encompasses approval by various committees before the clinical trial and post-approval monitoring throughout the clinical trial. Further, sometimes diseases studied in small N designs remain relatively rare (Goodwin and Goodwin, 2017); thus, the small N design may inform future ethical issues. For example, Pérez-Núñez et al. (2021) studied the effectiveness of music therapy for the rare Sanfilippo syndrome. In their discussion, Pérez-Núñez et al. (2021) describe how one of the three participants cried upon beginning the session. Therefore, future research may consider the distress imposed on children with this syndrome when entering therapeutic interventions and provoke insight for future ethical considerations. Pearson et al. (2015) assert that case studies do not acquire unique ethical concerns. Instead, like other research designs, case studies must protect the participants' confidentiality and anonymity when necessary, informed consent must remain ongoing, and any potential harms must be mitigated or prevented (Pearson et al., 2015).