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In this chapter I develop further my references to responsible social research practice which I have introduced in earlier chapters and I explore in more depth various aspects hereof. I link this to a discussion of the USA-commissioned Belmont report (1979). This report offers guidelines for the practice of ethics in biomedical and behavioral research, which have been highly influential in the way in which Institutional Review Boards (or ethics review committees) worldwide review/regulate the work of researchers proposing to conduct any kind of research involving human participants. The Belmont research delineates three principles and translates these into suggested applications in the realm of research ethics. The principles are "respect for persons", "beneficence", and "justice". In this chapter—with reference to various authors' engagement with this report and with reference to the illustrations which I extrapolate from Chaps.  2 to  6—I suggest ways in which these principles can be reconfigured. The reconfigurations are an attempt to make provision for alternative understandings (other than those encapsulated in the Belmont report) of how social research can be responsibly exercised. I also offer some thoughts on how Institutional Review Boards can be geared to operate with flexibility when reviewing proposed research projects.

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-74386-8_8

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