Psych 103 Exam 2

Ethics

The branch of philosophy that is concerned with morality—what it means to behave morally and how people can achieve that goal. It can also refer to a set of principles and practices that provide moral guidance in a particular field

Three groups of people that are affected by scientific research

Research participants, the scientific community, and society more generally

How can scientific research be ethical?

If risks are outweighed by benefits

Risks to research participants

Treatment might fail to help or be harmful, result in harm, violate privacy

Benefits to research participants

Helpful treatment, learning about psychology, satisfaction of contributing to scientific knowledge, receiving money/course credit

Risk to scientific community

f a research question is uninteresting or a study is poorly designed, then the time, money, and effort spent on that research could have been spent on more productive research

Risk to society

Research results could be misunderstood or misapplied with harmful consequences

Benefits to scientific community and society

It advances scientific knowledge and can contribute to the welfare of society

Confederate

Helper who pretends to be a real participant

Findings of Milgram’s shock experiment

Most (65%) of the real participants continued to administer the shocks right through the confederate’s protests, complaints, and screams

Deception

Some research questions (such as Milgram’s) are difficult or impossible to answer without deceiving research participants. Thus acting with integrity can conflict with doing research that advances scientific knowledge and benefits society

Tuskegee syphilis study

Conducted by the US Public Health Service from 1932 to 1972. Pparticipants in this study were poor African American men in the vicinity of Tuskegee, Alabama, who were told that they were being treated for “bad blood.” Although they were given some free medical care, they were not treated for their syphilis. Instead, they were observed to see how the disease developed in untreated patients. Even after the use of penicillin became the standard treatment for syphilis in the 1940s, these men continued to be denied treatment without being given an opportunity to leave the study. The study was eventually discontinued only after details were made known to the general public by journalists and activists

Autonomy

People’s right to make their own choices and take their own actions free from coercion

Informed consent

Researchers obtain and document people’s agreement to participate in a study after having informed them of everything that might reasonably be expected to affect their decision

Privacy

Participants’ right to decide what information about them is shared with others

Confidentiality

An agreement not to disclose participants’ personal information without their consent or some appropriate legal authorization

Anonymity

When their name and other personally identifiable information is not collected at all

Nuremberg Code

One of the earliest ethics codes, made to convict WWII Nazi physicians. 10 principles: voluntary consent, fruitful results (not just for curiosity), anticipate results justifying experiment, avoid suffering, no death/disability, minimize risk, adequate facilities, qualified personnel, right to withdraw, terminate if unsafe

Declaration of Helsinki

World Medical Association/Council’s guidelines for medical doctors involved in biomedical research. Research should be based on written protocol (detailed research description) reviewed by independent committee. Informed consent, qualified personnel, risk < benefit

Belmont Report

Ethical principles/guidelines protecting humans, defined principles and applications for medical and behavioral research. Explicitly recognized the principle of seeking justice, respect for all persons, beneficence, established IRB, basis for Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects

Justice

Fairly distributing benefits and risks to all participants and groups at the societal level

Respect for persons

Acknowledges people’s autonomy and protection for those with diminished autonomy. Each person is autonomous, unique, and free to make their own decisions

Beneficence

Do no harm, researcher responsible for protecting physical, mental, social well-being of participants

Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects

Set of laws that apply to research conducted, supported, or regulated by the federal government. All institutions receiving support from federal government must establish institutional review board (IRB)

Institutional review board (IRB)

Committee responsible for reviewing research protocols for potential ethical problems. 5 people with varying backgrounds and one unaffiliated with institution

Three levels of risk

Exempt research, expedited research, greater than minimal risk research

Exempt research

Lowest level of risk, exempt from regular, continuous review after approved (eg. effectiveness of normal educational activities, using existing data)

Expedited research

Somewhat higher risk than exempt but still exposes participants to risks no greater than minimal risk (those encountered by healthy people in daily life or during routine physical or psychological examinations). Done by by one member of the IRB or by a separate committee under the authority of the IRB that can only approve minimal risk research

Greater than minimal risk research

Does not qualify for exempt or expedited review, must be reviewed by full board of IRB members

APA Ethics Code

First published in 1953, 150 ethical standards. Research, training, clinical practice, public policy work.

5 principles:

1. Beneficence: Maximize benefits, minimize harmful effects, consider participant’s privacy, research design, application of results

2. Fidelity and responsibility: Establishing trusting relationships with others

3. Integrity: Psychologists promote accuracy, honesty, and truthfulness. Do not steal and cheat or engage in fraud, subterfuge, or intentional misrepresentation of fact

4. All persons are entitled to fairness and justice, access to and benefit from the contributions of psychology. Equal quantity in the processes, procedures, and services conducted by psychologists. Special care with issues impacting marginalized groups

5. Respect and dignity: Respect dignity and worth of all people, and the rights of individuals. Right to informed consent, withdraw from study, and privacy. Eliminate effects of biases

Consent form

Obtaining informed consent by having the participants read and sign the form.

Good practices for informed consent

Tell participants about the risks and benefits, demonstrate the procedure, ask them if they have questions, and remind them of their right to withdraw at any time—in addition to having them read and sign a consent form

When informed consent is not necessary

When research is not expected to cause any harm and the procedure is straightforward or the study is conducted in the context of people’s ordinary activities

Forms of deception

Misinforming participants about the purpose of a study, using confederates, using phony equipment like Milgram’s shock generator, and presenting participants with false feedback about their performance, not informing participants of the full design or true purpose of the research even if they are not actively misinformed

Is deception ethical?

Yes, when the benefits of the study outweigh the risks, participants cannot reasonably be expected to be harmed, the research question cannot be answered without the use of deception, and participants are informed about the deception as soon as possible

Debriefing

Informing research participants as soon as possible of the purpose of the study, revealing any deception, and correcting any other misconceptions they might have as a result of participating. Debriefing also involves minimizing harm that might have occurred

Can research on nonhuman animals be ethical?

Yes, as the benefits of research on nonhuman animals can outweigh the costs, in which case it is ethically acceptable. However, researchers must use alternative methods when they can. When they cannot, they must acquire and care for their subjects humanely and minimize the harm to them

Scholarly integrity

Researchers must not fabricate data or plagiarize

Steps to ethical research design

Know and accept ethical responsibilities, identify and minimize risk, identify and minimize deception, weigh the risks against the benefits, create informed consent and debriefing procedures, get approval by writing protocol, follow through

Pre-screening

A way to minimize risks in a study and to identify and eliminate participants who are at high risk

Measurement

The assignment of scores to individuals so that the scores represent some characteristic of the individuals (eg. weight, temperature). Requires systematic procedure for assigning scores, NOT instruments/procedures,

Psychometrics

Psychological measurement (eg. how depressed someone is)

Constructs

Psychological variables that represent an individual's mental state or experience, often not directly observable (eg. personality traits, emotional states, attitudes, and abilities)

Big Five

Openness to experience, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, neuroticism

Six facets

Constructs. Fantasy, aesthetics, feelings, actions, ideas, values

Conscientiousness

Fantasy: Competence

Aesthetics: Order

Feelings: Dutifulness

Actions: Achievement striving

Ideas: Self-discipline

Values: Deliberation

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Extroversion

Fantasy: Warmth

Aesthetics: Gregariousness

Feelings: Assertiveness

Actions: Activity

Ideas: Excitement seeking

Values: Positive emotions

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Agreeableness

Fantasy: Trust

Aesthetics: Straightforwardness

Feelings: Altruism

Actions: Compliance

Ideas: Modesty

Values: Tender mindedness

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Neuroticism

Fantasy: Worry

Aesthetics: Anger

Feelings: Discouragement

Actions: Self-consciousness

Ideas: Impulsivity

Values: Vulnerability

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Conceptual definition

Describes the behaviors and internal processes that make up that construct, along with how it relates to other variables

Operational definition

A definition of a variable in terms of precisely how it is to be measured. Self-report measures, behavioral measures, physiological measures

Self-report measures

Participants report on their own thoughts, feelings, and actions

Behavioral measures

Some other aspect of participants’ behavior is observed and recorded. Broad, includes the observation of people’s behavior both in highly structured laboratory tasks and in more natural settings

Physiological measures

Involve recording any of a wide variety of physiological processes

Converging operations

When psychologists use multiple operational definitions of the same construct, either within a study or across studies

Levels of measurement

Scales of measurement that correspond to four types of information that can be communicated by a set of scores, and the statistical procedures that can be used with the information. Nominal,

Nominal

Used for categorical variables and involves assigning scores that are category labels. Category labels communicate whether any two individuals are the same or different in terms of the variable being measured (eg. marital status). Categorized, not categorized

Ordinal level

Assigning scores so that they represent the rank order of the individuals. Ranks communicate not only whether any two individuals are the same or different in terms of the variable being measured but also whether one individual is higher or lower on that variable

Interval level

Assigning scores using numerical scales in which intervals have the same interpretation throughout (eg. 0 degrees F doesn’t mean heat is gone 5ever, IQ)

Ratio level

Assigning scores where there is true 0 point. When in doubt, assume ratio

Why are Steven’s levels of measurement important?

Emphasize the generality of the concept of measurement. Although people do not normally think of categorizing or ranking individuals as measurement, in fact, they are as long as they are done so that they represent some characteristic of the individuals. Second, the levels of measurement can serve as a rough guide to the statistical procedures that can be used with the data and the conclusions that can be drawn from them. With nominal-level measurement, for example, the only available measure of central tendency is the mode

How do researchers know that the scores actually represent the characteristic, especially when it is a construct like intelligence, self-esteem, depression, or working memory capacity?

They conduct research using the measure to confirm that the scores make sense based on their understanding of the construct being measured.

Reliability

The consistency of a measure. Over time (test-retest), across researchers (inter-rater reliability)

Test-retest reliability

The extent that the scores they obtain should also be consistent across time. Requires using the measure on a group of people at one time, using it again on the same group of people at a later time, and then looking at the test-retest correlation between the two sets of scores. Typically done by graphing the data in a scatterplot and computing the correlation coefficient

Internal consistency

The consistency of people’s responses across the items on a multiple-item measure

Split-half correlation

Splitting the items into two sets, such as the first and second halves of the items or the even- and odd-numbered items. Then a score is computed for each set of items, and the relationship between the two sets of scores is examined

Cronbach’s α

α = mean of all possible split-half correlations for a set of items

Interrater reliability

The extent to which different observers are consistent in their judgments

Validity

The extent to which the scores from a measure represent the variable they are intended to. Face validity, content validity, and criterion validity

Face validity

The extent to which a measurement method appears “on its face” to measure the construct of interest. Not usually assessed quantitatively

Content validity

The extent to which a measure “covers” the construct of interest. Not usually assessed quantitatively. Instead, it is assessed by carefully checking the measurement method against the conceptual definition of the construct. Not usually assessed quantitatively. Instead, it is assessed by carefully checking the measurement method against the conceptual definition of the construct.

Criterion validity

The extent to which people’s scores on a measure are correlated with other variables (known as criteria) that one would expect them to be correlated with

Criterion

Can be any variable that one has reason to think should be correlated with the construct being measured, and there will usually be many of them

Concurrent validitt

When the criterion is measured at the same time as the construct

Predictive validity

When the criterion is measured at some point in the future (after the construct has been measured) then the criterion is measured at some point in the future (after the construct has been measured)

Convergent validity

Eg. new measures of test anxiety or physical risk taking to be positively correlated with existing established measures of the same constructs

Need for Cognition Scale

To measure how much people value and engage in thinking. Showed that people’s scores were positively correlated with their scores on a standardized academic achievement test, and that their scores were negatively correlated with their scores on a measure of dogmatism (which represents a tendency toward obedience)

Discriminant validity

The extent to which scores on a measure are not correlated with measures of variables that are conceptually distinct

Four steps in measurement process

(a) conceptually defining the construct, (b) operationally defining the construct, (c) implementing the measure, and (d) evaluating the measure

Creating your own measure

Strive for simplicity, write and read clear instructions, brief measures while still enough detail to be valid/reliable

Socially desirable responding

Doing or saying things because they think it is the socially appropriate thing

Demand characteristics

Subtle cues that reveal how the researcher expects participants to behave

Ways to minimize reactivity

Make procedure as clear and brief as possible, guarantee anonymity, don’t reveal hypothesis, have measure administered to blind helper, standardize all interactions

Is it possible to assess test-retest reliability?

Mostly no because participants are tested only one time, but CAN by testing same participants at two separate times

Ways to assess criterion validity

Look for correlation among similar/different constructs

Descriptive statistics

Set of techniques for summarizing and displaying data

Distribution

The way that scores are distributed across the levels of that variable

Frequency table

A display of each value of a variable and the number of participants with that value

Histogram

A graphical display of a distribution

Distribution shapes

Typical = peak somewhere near the middle of the distribution and “tails” that taper in either direction from the peak

Negatively skewed = tail to left

Positively skewed = tail to right

Symmetrical = tail to left and right

Central tendency

Average. Middle of distribution, the point around which the scores in the distribution tend to cluster

Variability

The extent to which the scores vary around their central tendency

Range

The difference between the highest and lowest scores in the distribution

Standard deviation

Most common measure of variability. The average distance between the scores and the mean. Find square root of difference between each score and mean squared divided by number (mean). Always positive

Variance

Mean of squared differences

Percentile rank

The percentage of scores in the distribution that are lower than that score. Count the number of scores in the distribution that are lower than that score and convert that number to a percentage of the total number of scores

z score

The difference between that individual’s score and the mean of the distribution, divided by the standard deviation of the distribution

Effect size

The strength of a statistical relationship

Cohen’s d

The most widely used measure of effect size for differences between group or condition means, difference between the two means divided by the standard deviation