Final answer:
The Institutional Review Board (IRB) is the committee responsible for reviewing research proposals involving human participants to ensure ethical treatment. It consists of a diverse group that includes administrators, scientists, and community members. Their main focus is on informed consent and the protection of subjects' rights and safety in research.
Step-by-step explanation:
The committee designed to review research proposals to ensure the ethical treatment of human research participants is known as an Institutional Review Board (IRB). The IRB is a panel composed typically of institutional administrators, scientists, community members, and sometimes legal experts. Its primary function is to scrutinize the protocols of research studies to safeguard the rights, privacy, and wellbeing of human subjects. Research involving human participants is subject to rigorous ethical standards to minimize risk and enhance the transparency and integrity of the experiment.
IRBs operate within research institutions or universities, and their approval is compulsory before any research can commence. They evaluate various aspects of the research plan, including the informed consent process, to ensure that participants are fully aware of any risks involved. The IRB ensures compliance with federal regulations and follows historical ethical precedents, such as the Nuremberg Code, to prevent abuses in research. This commitment to ethical research maintains a balance between scientific advancement and the protection of human subjects.