Ethics ?

1
Ethics
?
Chapter 5
?Back to Brief Contents

• Research Ethics What Are They? ?
• Ethical Dilemmas ?
• Ethical Guidelines ?
• APA Ethical Standards for Research
• Issues Raised by the APA Code of Ethics ?
• Ethics of Animal Research ?

2
5.1 Research Ethics What Are They?
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• Definition of Research Ethics
• A set of guidelines to assist the experimenter
  in conducting ethical research
• Ethical concerns (Diener Crandall, 1978)
• Relationship Between Society and Science ?
• Professional Issues ?
• Treatment of Research Participants ?

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5.1.1 Relationship Between Society
and Science
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• Society
• Government funding of scientific research
• Congressional influence on which studies are
  funded
• Corporate (????) funding of scientific research
• Culture
• Scientists own culturally based
  interests

gtgt 5.1
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5.1.2 Professional Issues -1
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• Scientific Misconduct
• Definition (by OSTP, 2000)
• Fabricating, falsifying, or plagiarizing (FFP)
  the proposing, performing, reviewing, or
  reporting of research results

gtgt 5.1
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5.1.2 Professional Issues -2 (end)
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• Scientific Misconduct
• Other less serious issues
• (ex) failing to present data contradicting ones
  own work
• (ex) changing the design to meet pressure from a
  funding source
• Developing an institutional culture of ethical
  behavior --best way of combating this. Tab 5.1

gtgt 5.1
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5.1.3 Treatment of Research Participants
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• Welfare of the research participant was
  disregarded in favor of science
• (ex) radiation experiment

gtgt 5.1
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5.2 Ethical Dilemmas
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• Ethical Dilemma
• Definitiondeciding if the benefit of the
  research is greater than the cost to the
  participants
• Primary considerationwelfare of the participant
• Role of the Institutional Review Board (IRB)
• Review research protocols to assess ethical
  acceptability of a study Tab 5.2
• Use of the decision-plane model for making
  decisions Fig 5.1

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5.3 Ethical Guidelines
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• Respect for Persons and Their Autonomy ?
• Beneficence and Nonmaleficence ?
• Justice ?
• Trust ?
• Fidelity and Scientific Integrity ?

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5.3.1 Respect for Persons and Their Autonomy
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• An Autonomous Person
• Capable of making decisions and following them
• Participants Informed Consent
• Difficulties
• Limited or diminished capacity to understand
• Solution Proxy (???)

gtgt 5.3
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5.3.2 Beneficence and Nonmaleficence
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• Beneficence (??) doing good
• Maximize the probability that participants
  receive some benefit
• Nonmaleficence (??) doing no harm
• Minimize the probability of harm to the
  participant
• IRB review

gtgt 5.3
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5.3.3 Justice
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• All participants receive equal benefits
• The research participants benefit as much as
  nonparticipants
• Difficulties
• Can not be known prior to its completion

gtgt 5.3
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5.3.4 Trust
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• Researchers should establish and maintain a
  relationship of trust with the research
  participants.
• Compromised
• Deception
• Confidentiality (??,??) not maintained

gtgt 5.3
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5.3.5 Fidelity and Scientific Integrity
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• Conduct quality research
• Truthfully report the research

gtgt 5.3
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5.5 Issues Raised by the APA Code of Ethics
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• Institutional Approval
• Informed Consent ?
• Deception ?
• Debriefing ?
• Coercion and Freedom to Decline Participation ?
• Confidentiality, Anonymity, and the Concept of
  Privacy ?
• Ethical Issues in electronic research ?
• Ethical Issues in Preparing the Research Report ?

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5.5.2 Informed Consent -1
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• Informed Consent
• informing of all aspects of the
  study
• that may influence the willingness
  to volunteer
• to participate
• Dispensing with Informed Consent
• Fig 5.2
• Not necessary (e.g., ????)
• Impossible (e.g., field study)
• Not reasonably be assumed to create distress or
  harm

gtgt 5.5
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5.5.2 Informed Consent -2(end)
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• Informed Consent and Minors
• Assent agreement from a minor to
  participate
• (??) after appropriate explanation
• Passive versus Active Consent
• Active verbally agreeing and signing a
  form
• Passive (from a parent or guardian)
• by not returning the consent
  form

gtgt 5.5
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5.5.3 Deception -1
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• Types
• Active deception deception by commission
• Deliberately misleading by giving false
  information
• Passive deception deception by omission
• Withholding information by not giving all the
  details

gtgt 5.5
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5.5.3 Deception -2(end)
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• Objections
• May cause participants to distrust psychologists
• Potential for wronging and harming participants
• Neither objection has occurred Fig 5.3
• Alternatives such as role playing are inadequate
• Type of studies in which it raises ethical
  concerns
• Studies that involve invasion of privacy and/or
  may harm the participants

gtgt 5.5
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5.5.4 Debriefing
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• Debriefing
• A postexperimental discussion or
  interview
• about the details of the study,
• including an explanation for the use
  of any deception
• Goal Dehoaxing Desensitizing
• Dehoaxing
• Debriefing the P about any deception used
• Desensitizing
• Elimination any undesirable influence

gtgt 5.5
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5.5.5 Coercion and Freedom to Decline
Participation
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• Fig 5.4

gtgt 5.5
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5.5.6 Confidentiality, Anonymity,
and the Concept of Privacy -1
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• Privacy
• Having control of others access to information
  about you
• Two aspects to privacy (Folkman, 2000)
• When and under what circumstances others get your
  information
• You must be able to decline receiving information
  that you do not want

gtgt 5.5
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5.5.6 Confidentiality, Anonymity,
and the Concept of Privacy -2(end)
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• Confidentiality
• Not revealing information obtained from a
  research P to anyone outside the research group
• Anonymity
• Keeping the identity of the research P unknown

gtgt 5.5
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5.5.7 Ethical Issues in electronic research -1
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• Informed consent
• Complicated because there is no clear distinction
  between what is public and what is private over
  the internet
• How to obtain informed consent
• Can put a consent to participate form on line
• Does the participant understand it
• How do you answer questions about the study

gtgt 5.5
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5.5.7 Ethical Issues in electronic research -2
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• Privacy and confidentiality
• Hackers can obtain the data
• But data can be encrypted (????) and the only
  connection to the participant is the IP address

gtgt 5.5
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5.5.7 Ethical Issues in electronic research -3
(end)
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• Debriefing
• Difficult to do
• If person terminates the study early
• If connection with the study is broken by
  computer crash or power outage
• Ways to maximize probability of debriefing
• Have participant provide an e-mail address
• Provide a leave the study radio button
• Incorporate a debriefing page into the program so
  it is delivered directly to the participant

gtgt 5.5
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5.5.7 Ethical Issues in Preparing the
Research Report -1
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• Principles to follow
• Justicewho will be the author(s)
• Scientific integrityaccurate and honest
  reporting
• Authorship
• Substantial contribution conceptualization,
  design, execution, analysis, or interpretation of
  the study
• Contribution of a technical nature acknowledged
  in a footnote (??)

gtgt 5.5
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5.5.7 Ethical Issues in Preparing the
Research Report -2 (end)
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• Writing the Research Report
• Presentation should be honest and written with
  integrity
• Avoid plagiarismnot giving another person credit
  for their work
• How to indicate anothers work
• Quotation marks
• Indented material (citation)

gtgt 5.5
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5.6 Ethics of Animal Research
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• Animal Rights
• Alternatives to the Use of Animals
• Safeguards in the Use of Animals
• Animal Research Guidelines ?

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5.6.4 Animal Research Guideline -1
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• Focus on animal welfare and not animal right
• Animal welfare
• Improving the lab conditions
• reducing the number of animals used
• Animal right
• The belief that
• a animals have the rights similar to humans and
• should not be used in research

gtgt 5.6
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5.6.4 Animal Research Guideline -2(end)
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• 1. Justification of the Research
• 2. Personnel
• 3. Care and Housing of Animals
• 4. Acquisition of Animals
• 5. Experimental Procedures (p.173)
• 6. Field Research
• 7. Educational Use of Animals

gtgt 5.6