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7340026 
Book/Book Chapter 
Objectivity and Ethics in Environmental Health Science 
Quigley, D 
2011 
Elsevier Inc. 
Encyclopedia of Environmental Health 
207-215 
English 
The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how to improve research beneficence and extend measures of objectivity in environmental health studies that take place in local, geographic communities, particularly those with culturally diverse groups. In this article, there is an emphasis on the community value of a research investigation, a community-based ethical obligation, which can be determined along with an ethic of scientific validity. By engaging in the research the participation of local community representatives and cultural groups along with academic research teams, community and social values are enhanced. Through community-based participatory research (CBPR) partnership or collaborative models, community value will be improved when the scientific design and methods of an environmental health investigation will incorporate local contextual conditions, cultural appropriateness/competence, community capacity-building, and other community-based measures of local beneficence. Additionally, with these CBPR models and ethical perspectives, evidence for extending objectivity into the multiple, interrelated impacts of environmental health threats, instead of single end point technical analyses, can be seen. This too increases community beneficence when the full extent of environmental health harms is accounted for and become part of remediation plans. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 
Community-based participatory research; Cultural competence; Culturally diverse communities; Environmental health; Native Americans; Research ethics