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Serious adverse events in research involving healthy volunteers are rare, but their impact on other volunteers is unknown. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 60 healthy volunteers at an institution where a healthy research volunteer died. Most volunteers (85%) had heard of the event, but few said it changed their thoughts about joining research (17%), approach to studies or questions asked (25%), or future participation (4%). Despite knowing few facts, respondents created narratives about the case that served to distance them from the event and justify their continued participation in research. Downward social comparison theory, optimistic bias, and feelings of responsibility and control may help explain these narratives. Findings underscore the importance of communication and understanding of research risks and protections.

Although there is much discussion regarding the ethics of making payments to healthy volunteers for participating in clinical research, little data are available from the point of view of the volunteers as to what they would consider to be fair payment. The objectives of this study were to determine healthy volunteers' estimates of appropriate payments for participation in hypothetical clinical trials in order to explore the reasoning behind these estimates and to examine the association between volunteer demographics and payment expectations. Sixty participants with previous experience as healthy volunteers in research studies were presented with four hypothetical studies and interviewed about their impressions of burden and risks involved in the studies. They were also asked to estimate an appropriate payment to the volunteers for each of the studies. For each of the studies, the payment estimates made by the participants varied over a wide range. However, each individual tended to be consistent in estimate placement within this range. No demographic factor was significantly associated with the estimated study payment. Subjects frequently mentioned risk and logistical burden as factors that should determine payment levels. Healthy volunteer subjects appear to have individualized yet consistent methods of arriving at estimates of payments for participating in clinical studies. These estimates are based on each subject's perception of study burden and associated risk.