Chapter 3

Question 1

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

Answer 1

• Protect rights and welfare of human participants

* Committee members

Question 2

Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC)

Answer 2

• Protects rights and welfare of animal subjects
• Committee members
• Care and housing of animals

Question 3

Risks

Answer 3

• Different types
• Physical injury
• Psychological injury (mental or emotional stress)
• Social injury (e.g., embarrassment)
• Ethical obligation
• Protect participants from all risk

Question 4

Minimal Risk

Answer 4

• Definition:
• Harm or discomfort is not greater than that experienced in daily life or during routine physical or psychological tests.
• Minimal risk differs across individuals.

Question 5

“At Risk”

Answer 5

*When risk is greater than minimal
= “at risk”
*Increases researchers’ ethical obligation to protect participants’ welfare
*Consider alternative methods with lower risk

Question 6

Confidentiality

Answer 6

• Social risk
• “confidential” ≠ “anonymous”
• To increase confidentiality
• Remove identifying information
• Report results in terms of statistical averages
• Internet research
• Confidentiality is a special problem

Question 7

Informed Consent

Answer 7

• A person’s explicitly expressed willingness to participate in a research project based on a clear understanding of the nature of the research, of the consequences for not participanting, and of all factors that might be expected to influence that person’s willingness to participate
• A social contract
• Make clear to participants:
• Nature of the research (what they will do)
• Possible risks
• Written informed consent
• Required when risk is greater than minimal
• Not required when researchers observe public behavior
• Informed consent requires
• Inform participants of all aspects of research that may influence their decision to participate
• Allow to withdraw at any time without penalty
• No pressure
• Some are unable to provide legal consent
• Young children, mentally impaired
• -provide assent to participate
• Obtain legal guardians’ consent

Question 8

Privacy

Answer 8

• Definition
• The right of individuals to decide how information about them is communicated to others
• Research participants want to know
• How their information is protected
• How their confidentiality will be protected
• Public or private behavior?
• Three dimensions
• Sensitivity of the information
• Setting
• Method of dissemination of the information

Question 9

Deception

Answer 9

• Occurs when
• Information is withheld from participants
• Participants are intentionally misinformed about aspects of the research
• Deception for the purpose of getting people to participate is always unethical.
• Can occur either through omission, the withholding of information, or commission, intentionally misinforming participants about an aspect of the research

Question 10

Pros: Why deceive?

Answer 10

• Allows study of people’s natural behavior

* Opportunity to investigate behavior and mental processes not easily studied without deception

Question 11

Cons: Why should we not deceive?

Answer 11

• Contradicts principle of informed consent
• Relationship between researcher and participant is not open and honest
• Frequent deception makes people suspicious about research and psychology

Question 12

Deception is justified only when

Answer 12

• The study is very important
• No other methods are available
• Deception would not influence decision to participate

Question 13

When deception is used, the researcher must debrief

Answer 13

• Inform participants of the reason for deception
• Discuss any misconceptions
• Remove any harmful effects

Question 14

Goal of Brief in Deception

Answer 14

• Participants should feel good about the research experience.
• Educating participants about the research

Question 15

Should animals be used in research?

Answer 15

• APA Ethical Standards and IACUCs
• Researchers are ethically obligated to protect welfare of animal subjects
• Justify any pain, discomfort, death by potential scientific, educational, or applied goals

Question 16

Reporting Psychological Research: Publication Credit

Answer 16

• Acknowledge fairly those who contributed to a research project
• Authorship based on scholarly importance of contributions

Question 17

Plagiarism

Answer 17

• Don’t present substantial portions or elements of another’s work as your own.
• “Substantial portion or element” can be 1-2 words if it represents a key idea
• Ignorance or sloppiness are not legitimate excuses
• Cite sources appropriately
• Cut-and-paste from Internet is plagiarism.

Question 18

Thinking Critically About Ethical Issues

Answer 18

• How do we decide whether a proposed study is ethical?
• What if people disagree? (they will)
• Is there a right answer? (often, no)
• The best we can do is follow steps for making ethical decisions.

Question 19

Steps for Ethical Decision Making

Answer 19

• Find out the facts.
• Procedure, participants, etc.
• Identify the relevant ethical issues.
• Risk, informed consent, privacy, confidentiality, deception, debriefing
• Decide what is at stake for all parties.
• Participants, researchers, institutions, society
• Identify alternative methods, procedures
• Consider ethical implications for each alternative, including not doing the proposed research
• Decide on the action to be taken
• Approve research
• Conditional approval with modifications
• Do not approve research

Question 20

Ethical Compliance Checklist

Answer 20

• Goal: ensure ethical compliance throughout the research process
• Required for research submitted to APA journals
• www.apa.org/journals