CONTEXT: Cash payments are often used to compensate subjects who participate in research. However, ethicists have argued that these payments might constitute an undue inducement.

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether potential subjects agree with theoretical arguments that a payment could be an undue inducement.

DESIGN/SETTING/PARTICIPANTS: Survey of 350 prospective jurors.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Belief that a $500 payment for research participation would impair their own, and others' ability to think carefully about the risks and benefits of a clinical trial.

RESULTS: Two hundred sixty‐one jurors (74.6%) believed that a $500 payment would impair subjects' ability to think carefully about the risks and benefits of research. Ninety‐six of 120 (80%) expressed this concern about subjects with a low income (<$20,000) compared to 92/117 (79%) of those with a middle income ($20,000 to $50,000), and 73/113 (65%) with a high income (>$50,000). In contrast, only 69 (19.7%) of jurors believed that a $500 payment would influence them. Jurors who believed that this payment would influence them reported lower incomes and less education.

CONCLUSION: Members of the general public share ethical concerns about the influence of payments for research, although they believe that these concerns are more applicable to others than to themselves.