Ethics in Research Methods Ithaca College Goals for

Ethics in Research Methods Ithaca College

Goals for the Chapter Describe past and current problems with ethics in research Understand the Ethical Guidelines of APA Learn how to evaluate ethical issues in research

Unethical Research Practices—Past and Present American researchers withheld treatment from black airmen with syphilis from the 1920 s to the 1960 s The Nazis conducted horrific research during World War 2 American scientists exposed developmentally disabled children to radiation without parental consent in the 1950 s

Unethical Research Practices—Past and Present The U. S. military exposed black and Puerto Rican soldiers, and Japanese-American citizens to mustard gas to examine its effects on them. Researchers exposed terminally ill patients to radiation without informed consent in the 1950 s. Contemporary researchers have violated norms regarding giving informed consent to participants and patients.

Unethical Research Practices—Past and Present Researchers have engaged in other unethical behaviors • Claiming others’ work as their own (plagiarism) • Falsifying or making up data • Inventing studies that were never done • Adding names to studies that others had done

Unethical Research Practices—Past and Present

Important Terms • • Informed consent Debriefing (dehoaxing and desensitization) Harm (physical and psychological) Voluntary participation Deception Excessive inducements Anonymity/confidentiality

Tearoom Trade Homework Evaluation of controversial research

Unethical Research Practices—Past and Present Reasons for unethical behaviors by doctors and researchers Intense pressure to publish research and to obtain grants Inadequate mentoring Some sort of mental disorder

APA’s Ethical Standards Beneficence and nonmaleficence--Working for the benefit of people and avoiding harm to them Fidelity and responsibility--Support for the discipline and working for the benefit of the community Integrity--Honest application of psychology in research, teaching, and practice. Justice--Recognizing the implications one’s actions and striving to make good professional judgments Respect for people’s rights and dignity--Striving to eliminate biases in dealing with people

Recent Ethics Controversy at APA

The Importance of Social Context • Stanley Milgram’s Obedience Studies: Participants thought they were shocking another person, perhaps causing death

Milgram’s Shock Generator Milgram’s Simulated Shock Generator (at the 2008 convention of the American Psychological Association in Boston). The apparatus is housed at the Archives of the History of American Psychology in Akron, Ohio.

The Importance of Social Context Criticism of Stanley Milgram’s research Deception Ignoring a potentially negative cost-benefit ratio Doing long-term harm to the participants psychologically Eroding confidence in authority figures

The Importance of Social Context Milgram’s defense of his research He consulted with psychiatrists in advance about potential risks to participants; they thought risks were minimal He desensitized and dehoaxed participants after the study, letting them meet the person they thought they had shocked. This is debriefing.

The Importance of Social Context Debriefing: Informing participants of the purpose of the research, disclosing deception and answering questions about the research Dehoaxing: Telling participants of any deception used in a study. Desensitization: Eliminating negative aftereffects that a participant might experience after taking part in a project.

The Importance of Social Context The social context • The research occurred right after World War 2, during which Nazis claimed only to be “following orders. ” • In America, people feared that we would become blindly obedient if the Communists came to power. • Society is different now, and such research would probably not be seen as acceptable.

Recent/Revisited Criticisms Debriefing wasn’t universal or complete There was potential long-term harm There were methodological problems due to the structure of the shock generator

Stanford Prison Study Zimbardo constructed a jail in the psychology labs and recruited participants. “Guards” began acting brutally toward the “prisoners. ” The study had to be terminated early

Were there Ethical Issues?

Methodological Problems Zimbardo created expectations that guards were “take away their [prisoners’] individuality” (Zimbardo, 2007) Zimbardo gave tacit approval for the brutality (Gray, 2013) Zimbardo had a conclusion in mind and set up the study to verify it (Prescott, 2005)

Making Decisions about Ethics • Are there ethical issues here? • Personal space invasion in the lavatory • The Tearoom Trade

Research Ethics: Is Deception OK? • Deception is a common feature in social psychological research • Should psychologists engage in deception?

Types of Deception—Active and Passive Implicit deception: misinforming participants about the reason for their behaviors Technical deception: misinforming participants about how apparatus is being used in the study Role deception: misinforming participants about the role of others in the research Participants don’t mind either implicit or technical deception, but some are bothered by role deception.

Issues in Research Involving Deception Important questions regarding deception and alternative strategies • Will alternative methodologies produce data of equal validity to that involve deception? • Does deception permit the research participant to make an informed consent regarding important aspects of the research? • Will debriefing eliminate the potential for risk or could it cause problems in and of itself?

An Article by Diederik Stapel People like self-consistent feedback because it induces feelings of predictability and control, but they like positive feedback because it induces positive self-esteem. With self-knowledge, people with low selfesteem feel better after negative feedback than after positive feedback, whereas people with high self-esteem feel better after positive feedback than after negative feedback.

The Case of Dirk Smeesters • Suspicious statistics • Two papers retracted • Resignation from his university position • No web pages remain

Doing Things Right • Laurie Santos of Yale University voluntarily asked the journal Developmental Science to withdraw one of her papers because of coding errors.

Stuttering A Compelling Example of Ethics, Theory, Research, and Society

A Monster?

A Basic 2 x 2 Design Stutterer Non. Stutterer Labeled as not being stutterers Group 1 -A Group 2 -A Labeled as stutterers Group 1 -B Group 2 -B

How Do These Terms Relate to the “Monster Study”? • • Informed consent Debriefing (dehoaxing and desensitization) Harm (physical and psychological) Voluntary participation Deception Excessive inducements Anonymity/confidentiality

The Results Jim Dyer of the San Jose Mercury News broke the story in 2001, 60 years after the study was done. He reported that several of the children suffered lasting damage, including those who were initially non-stutterers.

Some Important Questions Is this study ethical? Would it pass muster if you are on an IRB? How could the researchers justify their action? Why did they not publish any of their results?

Conclusions Social norms are important here. The counterarguments have received essentially no coverage: A good scandal is always better than a sober retraction. Not only does research raise as many questions as it answers, but research leads to stories that reflect the people who tell them.

Misinterpretation? Some speech researchers claim that Dyer misinterpreted the results of the study The researchers find little evidence that the study had any impact on the children’s speech There were problems with the categorization of stutters and non-stutters and other methodological questions that make the quality of the research murky.

Results

The Implications Research does not occur in a vacuum, so any time you make controversial claims based on research, you need to consider Who is telling the story What the data actually tell you Why you shouldn’t believe these claims uncritically

What You Learned in the Chapter Describe past and current problems with ethics in research Understand the potential ethical problems in psychological research Understand the Ethical Guidelines of APA Learn how to evaluate ethical issues in research

What Happened to the Children? • One woman whom Dyer interviewed and who was featured prominently in the new story claimed that her stuttering resulted from her participation in the study. • She didn’t begin stuttering for 60 years, until either she met her husband or when he died, depending on which account you read.

Some Important Considerations • Was the “suppression” of this 1939 research an attempt by the mentor to distance himself from Mary Tudor and from the specter of the Nazis? • Jim Dyer: “…as the world learned of the Nazi medical experiments, …the professor’s associates warned him to conceal his work on the orphans rather than risk comparisons that could ruin his career. ”

The “Suppression” The study has been available in the University of Iowa Library, available to patrons who could, and did, check it out. It may have been that the files with the participants’ names was off limits. The reporter used his student status to gain access to it.

Revisiting the Efficacy of Prayer • Does anybody do research similar to Galton’s?