PSY 304 Week 2 - Chapter 3

Definition of Sex

is an example of a ethical and political topic in social research- it is private for many, evokes ideological and religious values, and also involves public issues like same-sex marriage, abortion, and adoption

Ethics

• consists of standards of conduct that distinguish between right and wrong

  • Ex. “honestly is right, and lying is wrong”

  • Many ethical standards that guide social research are derived from the larger society, soe are enshrined in professional codes of conduct or federal regulations

  • Subject to interpretation

The first right of any research participant

• the right to personal safety

  • Nazi scientists abused and unethically treated subjects inhumanely in name of experimentation, violating the rights of the participants

Harm is…

not only physical! It can be emotional, psychological, anxiety, embarrassment, loss of trust, humiliation, etc

Standford university prison experiement by philip zimbardo and colleagues

they created a mock prison in a campus with guards and prisoners- it ended early than the planned two week mark bc after six days the guards physically and psychologically abused the prisoners sm, that they broke down, rebelled, or became submissive and apathetic- they confused role play and identity

Lareau’s 2011 field study

families felt embarrassed, hurt and betrayed- they even felt the psychological harms years later as adults bc of how they were portrayed in the research

Second ethical issues

arrises from the value placed on freedom of choice

Syphyllis study in 1932

subjects were told they had “bad blood” (as misleading info), and were studied as they lived with untreated syphilis with the promise of treatment upon its release at the release of the treatment, but upon its official release as a treatment it was not given

Informed consent

• the ethical principle that individuals should be given enough information about a study, especially its potential risks and benefits, to make an informed decision about whether to participate.

  • "Informed" means that research participants must be given enough information about the research, including its risks and benefits, to make a rational decision about whether to participate.

Consent refers to

 voluntary participation

Deception in social research

•  involves intentionaliy misleading or misinforming participants about aspects of a study (Sett ZOOS).

  • deception is allowed in social research in certain circumstances, but its use is controversial, On the one hand, some scholars argue that deception is sometimes necessary to place research participants in a mental state where they will behave naturally. 

    • But lying about “potential risk of harm” means deception has been violated as a principle

Invasion of Privacy

what you think it is

Respect for persons

Belmont principle that researchers must treat individuals as "autonomous agents" who have the freedom and capacity to decide what happens to them. It also requires that researchers protect those with diminished autonom, such as children, prisoners, and the mentally disabled.

Benefice

• requires researchers to consider the welfare of participants so that they "maximize possible benefits and minimize possibie harms." 

  • Includes long term benefits that nay affect the welfare and advancement of humankind due to this knowledge

Justice

the benefits and burdens of research should be fairly distributed (National Commission 1979).In particular, the burdens ofresearch should not fall upon one group, while the benefits accrue to another. (nazi experiments is an extreme version of this)

Common rule

• Label given to the federal policy for the protection of human subjects.

  • provides information about the application of regulations and presents criteria for approval of research.

Federal reguiations specify two main criteria for evaluating potential harm

(1) the level of risk to research participants

(2) the risks of the research in relation to the benefits

Why is assessing the costs and benefits of social research difficult

1. Main benefit is what is learned, not direct benefit to humans like bio stuff

2.  Hard to predict the costs and benefits

3 main guidelines to minimize harm

in page 11/26 on the dixon pdf on canvas

The belmont principle of respect for persons underlines

 the ethical requirement of informed consent

Things included in an informed consent statement -

• 1. A statement that the study involves research

• 2. A explanation of the purposes ofthe research Federal and Professional Ethical Guidelines

• 3. The expected duration of the participant's participation

• 4. A description of the procedures to be followed

• 5. A description of any reasonably foreseeable risks or discomforts to the participant

• 6. A description of any benefits to the participant or to others which may reasonably be expected from the research

• 7. A statement describing how, if applicable, the confidentiality of records identifying the participant will be maintained

• 8. An explanation of whom to contact for answers to pertinent questions about the research and research participants'rights and whom to contact in the event of a research related injury to the participant

• 9. A statement that participation is voluntary, refusal to participate will involve no penalty or loss of benefits to which the participant is otherwise entitled, and the partici pant may discontinue participation at any time without penalty or loss of benefits

First two ground rules of deception - 

• 1. Deception is banned when there is a large risk of harm or stress

• 2. Researchers must “come clean” about the true nature of their study

Debriefing

• a short interview hat takes place between an investigator and research participants after they have finished their participation - should ideally happen in all studies, not just ones involving deception

  • Should be more in depth depending on the severity of the deception

Anonymity

means that participants cannot be identified

Confidentiality

means that data obtained from participants is not shared with others without permission (removing names or identifiable info, keeping info secure, etc)

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

A committee formed at nearly all colleges and universities that is responsible for reviewing research proposals to assess provisions for the treatment of human (and animal) subjects

Process of Ethical Decision-Making

Details of each step are in chapter 3 dixon pdf posted on canvas, textbook page 55

Political Ideology

refers to the set of values and beliefs associated with a political system or party

A good examples of politics in research is AIDs epidemic bc…

• several government agencies supported the idea of a national survey of sexual practices (Michael et aI. 1994).Knowing that AIDS was infectious and one of the ways it was transmitted was through sex, scientists realized that they needed better information on sexual practices and who was most at risk for getting the disease through sexual contact BUT many govs did not allow researchers to ask questions about sexual behaviour even tho it would help with the research