Chapter 14: Ethical Issues in Behavioral Research

1. Chapter 14: Ethical Issues in Behavioral Research • deontology: ethics must be enforced and upheld and no study should be conducted if ethics is compromised • ethical skepticism: agree that ethics are important, but ethics should be should conform to the researcher’s conscience • utilitarian: ethical decisions depend on the consequences of the action • weigh the benefits of a research study against the potential costs (risks) • approach of the American Psychological Association (APA)

2. Cost-Benefit Analysis Potential benefits • basic knowledge: enhance our understanding of psychology or behavioral process • improve research techniques: improve research procedures and measures (reliability, validity). • practical implications: improve welfare of humans and animals (clinical research, research to enhance learning and aide children with disabilities) • benefit for researchers: increased knowledge about research process, educational function. • benefits for participants: common in clinical research when testing therapies to help them with a problem

3. Potential Costs • Potential risks include physical injury, social injury, and mental or emotional stress • Risks must be evaluated in terms of participants’ everyday activities, their physical and mental health, and capabilities. • Examples include social discomfort, stress, threats to self-esteem, anxiety, physical pain, or even health risks.

4. A subjective evaluation of the risks and benefits of a research process is used to determine whether the research should be conducted. • Institutional Review Board (IRB) reviews research conducted with human participants to ensure it is ethical. • Consider the risk/benefit ratio, if risks outweigh the benefits then they do not approve the research, if benefits outweigh the risks then they may approve it.

5. Ethical Issues 1) Informed Consent Researchers must inform participants about: • the purpose of the research, expected duration, and procedures • their right to decline to participate and to withdraw from the research once participation has begin • reasonable foreseeable factors that may influence their willingness to participate (risks, adverse effects, discomfort) • researchers do not need to inform the participant of everything about the study or the hypotheses.

6. Informed consent form: provides information about the study and includes required statements • The participant or their legal guardian (in cases with children) must sign the consent form. Problems obtaining informed consent • Compromise the validity of the study: researchers may not be able to fully inform participants about all aspects of the study because people may act differently if they know they are being observed (reactivity) of if they know what the researchers are studying

7. Participants unable to give consent: children, individuals with mental retardation and severe psychological problems are not cognitively able to make a decision about research participation and thus cannot give informed consent. • The person's parent or legal guardian must give consent • Cases when informed consent is not required: in some studies researchers can not obtain consent like in studies where they are simply observing people in public. • The research must involve no minimal risk to the participants and must be in naturalistic observation setting.

8. 2) Invasion of Privacy • Participants should have the right to decide to what extent their behavior and beliefs will be revealed, and to whom. • No clear APA guidelines. • Decision is left up the the researcher and IRB

9. 3) Coercion • Occurs when participants willingness to participate may be influenced by pressures from the researchers. • Occurs when professors require their students to participate in research • When participants are offered a high incentive to participate (financial incentive). • It is OK to pay participants for their time and re-reimburse them for travel to the study, parking, etc., as long as it is not excessive and would not make them want to participate just to receive the incentive.

10. 4) Physical and Mental Stress • Some important topics involve how people and animals respond to physical or psychological events. • Stress, fear, failure, and even pain. • Minimal risk: when the procedures or activities in the study are similar to those experienced by participants in their everyday lives. • Decision is left up the the researcher and IRB

11. 5) Deception • Researchers do not conduct a study involving deception unless the use of deceptive techniques is justified by the study’s implications for scientific, educational, or applied knowledge and that effective nondeceptive alternatives will not work. • Researchers should not deceive participant’s about research that is expected to cause physical or emotional pain. • Researchers should explain the deception in the study as soon after the study is completed as possible.

12. Deception may involve: • not telling the participant the true purpose of the study, so their behavior will not be affected • using an experimental confederate who poses as a bystander or participant in the study • providing false feedback to participants • giving incorrect information about stimulus materials The known use of depiction in psychological research may pose a problem because some participants may be suspicious of the true nature of a study

13. Debriefing • Researchers should provide participants with information about the nature, results, and conclusions of the research. • They should take reasonable steps to correct any misconceptions that the participants may have about the research. • If researchers become aware that research procedures have harmed a participant, they must take reasonable steps to minimize the harm.

14. Goals of Debriefing: • Inform the participant of the nature of the study, in more detail. • Remove any stress of negative consequences that the study may have induced • Get the participant's reactions to the study • To have the participant leaving feeling good about their participation and to thank them.

15. 6) Confidentiality • Data on participants is only used for research purposes and shall only be seen by the research team • Ensure participant's responses are anonymous • This can be done by assigning a participant number to each participant • If it is a case study, researchers must assure that the person’s privacy and confidentially are protected.

16. Research with Animals • There are specific guidelines researchers must follow when doing research with animals • All researchers involved must be familiar with the guidelines • A veterinarian must be available if needed • Lab animal facilities must be regulated by a federal organization • Researchers must make reasonable efforts to minimize the discomfort, infection, illness, and pain of animals participants.

17. Scientific Misconduct • Scientific dishonestly: includes fabrication and falsification of data, as well as plagiarism. • Fabrication data is clearly wrong, but researchers may remove certain participants if they did not understand the instructions or are extreme outliers. • This can become a problem if the researcher tends to be biased in how they remove participants (to support their hypothesis). • Questionable research practices: authorship and ownership of data • Unethical behavior: harassment, abuse of power, discrimination.