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Table 6 Benefits and risks of research.

From: Understanding of research: a Sri Lankan perspective

Concept

Themes

Supporting Quotes

Benefits and risks of research

Benefits

Ability to find new knowledge about diseases, new treatment methods for diseases

Research helps improve existing knowledge on disease and treatments

Research helps to increase productivity of the health sector

Risks

Adverse effects from participating in research causing harm or death such as drug trials (35.5%) Methodological errors in research resulting in false conclusions (17.8%)

Benefits

'To prove something with scientific evidence as in mosquito eradication'

'To find data on harmfulness of new drugs, to obtain new knowledge'

'To find a cause of a disease'

'To get the correct information regarding something as an illness'

'Search for treatments for diseases as cancer and rabies, Vaccines for prevention

Increase productivity of the health sector'

'To assess the weakness of an old treatment'

'To solve problems and provide the right answer'

Risks

'Adverse effects from participating in research causing harm or death as in drug trials'

'The harm to placebo group of patients in a drug trial'

'Being cheated due to the ignorance of the public'

'In research done by private institutions, due to signing of agreements there could be problems in withdrawing'

'Research that is not ethical',

'Presenting false research reports'

'Blood samples being used for other things', 'participants are not properly cared for'

'Plundering of genetic resources, selling our resources'

'Abusing people in the third world by developed nations'

'Research on arms development, research that are done with the aim of financial gain and those done in areas that has no benefit for society'