Ethical Guidelines in Behavioral Research: Ensuring Participant Welfare and Integrity
E N D
Presentation Transcript
Unit 2. Research Methods Ethics in Research
Ethics in Research • Voluntary participation • Informed consent • Confidentiality • Anonymity • Minimize risk and discomfort • Potential benefits must outweigh risk to subjects • Debriefing • Ethics of animal research • Approval of research committee • Institutional Review Board (IRB)
Why are ethics important inresearch? • Manipulations may subject participants to undesirable or even harmful experiences • Some experiments involve withholding information from participants • The variables psychologists study are often private • Intervention studies often include a control condition • The experimenter/participant relationship contains a power differential • the experimenter controls the situation
Informed Consent • Participants have a right to decide whether to be part of a study based on knowledge of the protocol • Providing informed consent involves: • Explaining the purpose, procedures, and duration of the research including any benefits and risks • Disclosing alternative procedures • Answering any questions about the study • Informing the individual that (s)he can withdraw at anytime • A description of procedures and limits to confidentiality • Information regarding a contact for further information
Deception • In deciding whether it’s OK to use deception, consider whether: • The Research could be carried out without deception • The Benefits, in terms of knowledge gained, outweigh the risk to the participants • The Potential for harm to subjects as a result of deception is minimal
Debriefing • After the experiment, the full purpose and any deception should be disclosed • Goals of debriefing: • Check for adverse reactions • Attempt to mollify the damage of deception • Explain the reason for the deception • Educate the participant about research • Acknowledge the value of the participant’s help • Evaluate whether full disclosure may be harmful
Deception • To minimize the potential negative impact of deception: • Avoid outright lying • Never withhold information concerning possible risks • Inform participants they might be deceived (but not how) • Perform a careful, sensitive debriefing • Allow participants to withdraw their data upon debriefing
Unit 2.21a Ethics - 10 Famous Psychological Experiments That Could Never Happen Today Do You Agree? • 1. The Little Albert Experiment (John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner (1920)) • 2. Asch Conformity Experiments (Solomon Asch (1951)) • 3. The Bystander Effect - The Bystander Apathy Experiment (John Darley and Bibb Latané (1968)) • 4. The Milgram Experiment (1963} • 5. Harlow’s Monkey Experiments (1950’s-60’s)
6. Learned Helplessness - Martin Seligman and Steven F. Maier (1967) • 7. Robbers Cave Experiment (MuzaferSherif 1954) • 8. The Monster Study (Dr. Wendell Johnson, a speech pathologist at University of Iowa – 1938) • 9. Blue Eyed versus Brown Eyed Students (1960’s on) • 10. The Stanford Prison Experiment (1971)
Some web resources • Ethics in Research • Social Research Methods Knowledge Base • http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/ethics.php • Ethics in research • Changing Mind .org • http://changingminds.org/explanations/research/articles/ethics_research.htm • Five principles for research ethics (APA) • http://www.apa.org/monitor/jan03/principles.aspx
Unit 14.14 Rubric for a Report on a Famous Psychology Experiment Group Project / Assignment
To research a topic: • Select your partner or partners (two-three to a group). • More than one group may work on the same topic. However, each report is to be individual and unique. • Identify the author. • Check the various texts in the classroom for descriptions of that research. • Check the bibliographies of the various texts in the classroom. • Write down the specific information from the bibliography so that you will be able to find this in a library or online. • Get approval from teacher for your topic by having it registered on his/her list. (Failure to get approval will result in a 10% penalty) • The research you pick may not fit nicely into the categories that I have assigned. You may alter the report as necessary – but – MAKE SURE THE ALTERATIONS ARE NECESSARY. • Illustrations may include drawings or photographs. • The assignment will be due on ___________. • Bring the copy of the article to class and use it and the texts in the classroom during class to work on your projects next week
Report on a Famous Experiment (Handout) • Elements of Assignment • Title Page and Folder (10 points) • Page 1 (20 points) Hypothesis • Page 2 (10 points) Sample • Page 3 (10 points) Variables • Page 4 (10 points) Results • Page 5 (10 points) Significance / Statistical Analysis • Page 6 (20 points) (Confounding variables)
Page 6 (20 points) (Confounding variables) • Page 7 (20 points) Practical Applications • Page 8 (30 points) Ethical Issues • Page 9 (20 points) Include a bibliography