Payment of Research Participants

Researchers at Fafo worked on a project funded by the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) on illegal immigration. The goal of the project was to map the nature and extent of illegal immigration in Norway, and as part of the project, interviews were to be conducted with people residing illegally in Norway. During the planning of the project, questions arose concerning the use of financial incentives. Should the researchers offer participants money to take part in the study, and if so, how much should they be paid?

When the case was reviewed by the National Research Ethics Committee for Social Sciences and Humanities (NESH), the advice to the researchers was that the use of payment should be limited when it comes to a group that would clearly benefit financially from participation. The people they wanted to recruit were in a situation where they could not hold regular paid jobs. An offer of money would thus compromise the requirement for free and informed consent. It is very difficult for a person who needs money to refuse participation in a research interview when payment is offered. The researchers themselves also believed that offering money would be ethically problematic, and therefore chose not to do so. In addition, there were other challenges in meeting the requirement for free and informed consent in the project. For example, it was difficult to explain that participation was voluntary and what it actually entailed, as many of the participants were illiterate.

Questions for discussion:

• Is payment of research participants (beyond compensation for lost work time or travel costs) always unacceptable? Discuss arguments for and against paying research participants.
• Some might argue that the researchers should have offered the immigrants money to participate. Is it not reasonable that participants receive something in return for giving their time and sharing experiences with the researchers—some of which may have been painful to recount? Could payment not also be a way to help these people, given that there was no other way to assist them?
• What should determine the amount of payment if it is accepted in certain situations? For example, is it appropriate to pay more the greater the burden the research is expected to place on each participant?

Read more:

• Payment of research subjects
• Payment for research participants in medical and health research (in Norwegian)
• Medical and health research in low- and middle-income countries (in Norwegian)