A noted limitation of early ethical codes is that they offered no mechanism for what?

• A. International collaboration
• B. Compliance or enforcement
• C. Participant recruitment
• D. Data management and sharing

Answer: (B)

Early ethical codes establish guiding principles for protecting participants but don’t include a built-in way to enforce them. They relied on voluntary adherence and professional judgment rather than penalties, audits, or formal oversight. Because there’s no mechanism to compel compliance, researchers or institutions could, in principle, follow or ignore the guidelines with little accountability. This lack of enforcement is what made those early codes limited. Over time, formal review processes, regulations, and sanctions were developed to ensure that ethical standards are consistently applied. The other topics—international collaboration, participant recruitment, and data management/sharing—are important, but the fundamental limitation being highlighted is the absence of an enforcement mechanism.