Table 3.

Examples of open coding

Excerpts from interview transcriptions	Tertiary node
“Sometimes, a medical researcher infringes on participants’ rights inadvertently—they don’t even realize they’ve done it.”	Inadvertence
“There is a lack of ethical training for researchers. Clinical research is not something that can be simply done by doctors. It must go through rigorous scientific training.”	Lack of ethical training
“After ethical approval, no one really comes to oversee it. How you performed in the clinical trial or whether you obtained informed consent…No one cares.”	Inadequate research oversight
“Some people don’t understand ethics; they think it’s too complicated and unnecessary. But I believe it’s important to raise awareness, so researchers can realize that ethics benefit not only the participants but also themselves—that’s when they’ll take it seriously.”	Insufficient understanding of ethics
“There is a lack of policy and legal norms for some clinical trials, and the ethical requirements for a more specified field of study need to be refined.”	Lack of ethical norms
“Some trials of drugs and medical apparatus often involve interests. They are a bit complex and there is such a thing as transfer of benefits.”	Transfer of benefits
“The research cycle is short and the time is tight … which makes some researchers can’t wait to start clinical studies until ethical approval is obtained.”	Short research cycle
“Favors, such as helping the graduate student of your colleagues to collect blood and pathological specimens without informed consent from subjects…”	Consideration of personal connections
“To reduce the impact of the unethical behavior, some departments or hospitals tend to downplay the wrongdoing. Some hospitals even pay for the misconduct and try to cover it up.”	Hospital cover-up