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Conducting Ethical Research

Conducting Ethical Research. Chapter 3. Ethics in Research. Milgram Obedience Studies Teacher and Learner Teacher asks Learner questions When learner is wrong, teacher shocks him/her Teacher increases voltage with each wrong answer Experimenter: “The experiment requires that you continue”.

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Conducting Ethical Research

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  1. Conducting Ethical Research Chapter 3 PSYC 3382 1

  2. Ethics in Research • Milgram Obedience Studies • Teacher and Learner • Teacher asks Learner questions • When learner is wrong, teacher shocks him/her • Teacher increases voltage with each wrong answer • Experimenter: “The experiment requires that you continue” PSYC 3382 2

  3. Research with Human Participants • Potential Issues • Protection of Participants • Protection of the field (liability) • Protection of Research • Future participation • Maintaining funding • Protection of Institutions • IRB • Ethical use of research  Implications PSYC 3382 3

  4. Human Research (2) • Potential Areas of Ethical Issues • Treatment of Participants • IV manipulations • Velten mood induction • Is it ethical to manipulate the mood of participants? • Read self-depressing statements • Watch very sad scenes of movies • Listen to sad music (Russian death march) • Conflict • Is it ethical to create conflicts between participants? • What if the IV creates a strong, positive effect? • Is it ethical to exclude some participants from the benefits of a favorable manipulation? PSYC 3382 4

  5. American Psychological Association (APA) Code • Investigator has ethical responsibility with research design • Determine level of participant risk • Investigator has oversight of ethical considerations (treatment by all involved) • Establish clear and fair agreement for participation PSYC 3382 5

  6. APA Code (2) 5. Deception • Determination of value research • Debrief afterward to explain deception 6. Freedom to decline participation • Prevent physical or mental discomfort, harm, or danger and get informed consent about these risks • Researcher should debrief after completion of the study PSYC 3382 6

  7. APA Code (3) 9. Researcher has responsibility to detect and remove negative consequences of participation • Maintain confidentiality at all times • Issue: Freedom of Information Act • Is research supported by federal funds subject to FOIA? • If so, how much is public? Names, data, results? PSYC 3382 7

  8. Informed Consent and Deception • Inform of “all aspects of the research that might reasonably be expected to influence willingness to participate…” • How do you define “reasonably”? • Reasonable man, woman, and person standards in law • Informed consent: Potential participants must be in a position to decide whether to participate in an experiment PSYC 3382 8

  9. Deception (2) • Cover story: provide a plausible explanation for the research procedures to cover true intention or procedure • Deception: Research technique in which the participant is mislead about some aspect of the project • Used to control for participant reactivity • Might be as simple as stating that a different aspect of the manipulation is what is of interest (e.g. Ss told measuring attitudes but actually interested in group interaction) PSYC 3382 9

  10. Deception (3) • Why is deception necessary (sometimes)? • Reactivity • Social desirability • Response acquiescence/deviance • Manipulate different mental states • Conflict vs. cooperation mental sets have effects on social categorization • Imagining that you are in conflict is different than being in conflict PSYC 3382 10

  11. Deception (4) • Follows ethical philosophy of Utilitarianism • Greatest good for the greatest number of people • Ethics = (-6 units of harm X 40 Ss) + (+1 units of good X 5000 people) (-240 + 5000 = 4760) • Tradeoff between deception of participants and importance of the question being addressed • Fully informed consent is the norm, and greater scrutiny is provided in cases where there is less than full information PSYC 3382 11

  12. Freedom to Withdraw • Participants are allowed to withdraw from participation at any time • Do you give participation credit for completion of study or for volunteering? PSYC 3382 12

  13. Protection from Harm • Harm is both physical and psychological • Research participation can often have unintended effects • Frustration from inability to complete a cognitive or memory task • Learn something undesirable about yourself PSYC 3382 13

  14. Debriefing • Researcher explains the general purposes of the research • Much more detailed when the research involved deception • Explain that there was deception • Explain why the deception was necessary PSYC 3382 14

  15. Removing Harmful Consequences • Induce positive mood after a negative mood induction manipulation • Provide contact information for helping resources • Tell them what to expect and how to react to the consequences PSYC 3382 15

  16. Confidentiality • Information is confidential unless otherwise agreed • Personal information is not revealed (name, SS#, phone #, etc.) • What if you give a depression test and find someone is suicidal or severely depressed? • Competing ethical principles PSYC 3382 16

  17. Animal Research Ethics • Many psychology departments that once had animal labs no longer do • Animals are often used to answer questions that would be impossible or impractical to answer with humans • Arguments against animal research: • Animals feel pain and their lives can be destroyed • Destroying any living thing is dehumanizing • Speciesism: neglecting the rights of other species PSYC 3382 17

  18. Animal Research Ethics (2) • Arguments for animal research • Utility: animals are harmed or killed only if absolutely necessary (no intentional torture) and the implications of the research is worthwhile • We almost all use animal products or animal-tested products daily • Meat, drugs, clothing • Cosmetics – no animal testing b/c deemed not worthwhile • Some animal research benefits animals • Find non-lethal methods of crop protection PSYC 3382 18

  19. Animal Research Ethics (3) • Guidelines for their use • Ethics are not always yes/no issues, but process issues (how they are used) • Care, use, and disposal of animals • Supervision and accountability • Minimize discomfort and pain • If termination is necessary, do it rapidly and painlessly • We are more willing to accept euthanasia for animals in pain, so we do have some different standards • Not an easy issue: Only really good argument is utility PSYC 3382 19

  20. Ethics in Drug Research • Qualified researchers using regulated procedures • Different standards for different drugs • Drug classification • Some drugs are considered as having no value (treatment or research) • Standards change with the times • LSD was thought to be a particularly promising drug for understanding insanity, consciousness PSYC 3382 20

  21. Bias in Research • Inadvertent researcher bias • Researchers are fallible and have own ideas, beliefs, politics • Avoiding bias • Double-blind studies • Removing bias in interpretations • Placebo studies • Control groups PSYC 3382 21

  22. No Control Group PSYC 3382 22

  23. Control Group PSYC 3382 23

  24. Fraud • Fraud (deliberate bias) is a separate issue than normal research ethics and is (fortunately) rare • Faking data or altering data • Not presenting data that disagree with one’s opinions • Peer review process (oversight) • There are ways for fraudulent research to enter the mainstream database (citation chain) PSYC 3382 24

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