Abstract：
In 2021, we were designing a research study in Sweden in which we planned to use newspaper articles focusing on children and adolescents under the age of eighteen during the Covid-19 pandemic as empirical material. As we developed this study, an ethical question arose: do studies using journalistic articles that may contain health information about individuals as empirical material have to be approved by an ethics review committee? Sweden, in contrast to other countries, requires the approval of an ethics review committee for the use of publicly available material in research when such material might include sensitive personal data such as health-related information. This case study calls for harmonized laws and policies that support global research by clarifying what kinds of empirical material and what types of research must be assessed by national ethics review committees, including with consideration for children\'s safety and rights.
摘要：
2021年，我们在瑞典设计了一项研究，计划使用针对新冠肺炎疫情期间18岁以下儿童和青少年的报纸文章作为实证材料。当我们开展这项研究时，出现了一个伦理问题：使用可能包含个人健康信息的新闻报道作为实证材料的研究是否必须得到伦理审查委员会的批准？瑞典，与其他国家相比，需要伦理审查委员会的批准才能在研究中使用公开可用的材料，如果这些材料可能包括敏感的个人数据，如健康相关信息。本案例研究呼吁通过澄清国家伦理审查委员会必须评估哪些类型的实证材料和哪些类型的研究来支持全球研究的协调法律和政策，包括考虑儿童的安全和权利。
