Table 3.

Summary of therapeutic misconception and misestimation (adapted from Horng and Grady⁴⁷)

Concept	Definition	Ethical significance
Therapeutic misconception	The research participant conflates research with clinical care	Rarely tolerable because understanding the nature of research is necessary for an autonomous decision to participate in research
Therapeutic misestimation	The research participant underestimates risk, overestimates benefit or both	Sometimes tolerable because understanding the exact probability of harm and benefit may not be necessary for an autonomous decision to participate in research