research risk
the potential costs to participants or to society at large associated with a particular study, which must be clearly specified to an institutional review board by an investigator prior to conducting the research. Examples of potential risk to participants include embarrassment at being involved in deception research, side effects from a treatment, time and resource commitments, and emotional upset (e.g., from exposure to unpleasant or painful memories). An investigator must discuss how the costs will be minimized to the fullest extent possible and how the study benefits outweigh the costs.