Chapter 4 Flashcards
The Tuskegee Syphilis Study
Determined the effect of untreated syphilis in black men, even when there was treatment, leading to many dying. This led to many African Americans being suspicious of health services and research participation.
How did the Tuskegee Experiment break ethical codes?
- The participants were not treated respectfully - they were lied to and had information withheld from them. Therefore, they could not consent.
- The participants were harmed - their treatment was withheld from them and they had to go through many risks with the “treatments.”
- The participants were from a targeted disadvantaged social group - African American men
The Milgram Obedience Studies
The study on authority and whether or not participants would administer 450 volts to a man they thought they were already hurting - just cause a researcher told them to do so
What was the ethical balance Milgram’s studies presented?
While it was stressful to the participants and since they were not fully debriefed on the complete situation (they weren’t told about whether the actor was actually unharmed), his studies did contribute crucial lessons on authority and some participants even felt grateful.
What is the Declaration of Helsinki?
It guides ethics in medical research and practice.
The 3 principles of the Belmont Report
- Respect for persons
- Beneficence
- Justice
What are the 2 provisions of the Respect for Person’s Principle?
- Individuals potentially involved in research should be treated as autonomous agents
- People that have less autonomy are entitled to a special protection with informed consent
What does informed consent entail?
Researchers can not mislead (trick without debriefing), coerce (force by suggesting negative consequences) or unduly influence (force by suggesting negative consequences) a participant. It is not required when data is anonymous in a survey or if the data was recorded in public
What sort of special protection do people with less autonomy get?
Children, prisoners or people with intellectual disabilities can not always give informed consent - as children and the intellectually disabled can have comprehension issues and prisoners are easily coerced.
How does a researcher apply the principle of beneficence?
Researchers must carefully assess the risks and benefits of the study they plan to conduct and how the community might benefit or be harmed. They also ensure people’s personal information remains disclosed and make sure they were anonymous
What is the difference between an anonymous study and a confidential study?
In an anonymous study, researchers do not collect any potentially identifying information while confidential studies collect some but prevent disclosure (sometimes by encryption)
Why is medical research a bit easier to assess than psychological research for ethics?
Medical research can assess the harm done physically - while psychological research has to ethically reason mental/emotional damage
What do researchers consider with the principle of justice?
They have to consider whether the demographic of participants are representative of the kinds of people who would benefit from the results.
What are the 5 APA general principles for ethics?
- Beneficence
- Justice
- Respect for Persons
- Fidelity and Responsibility
- Integrity
What does the Institutional Review Board (IRB) do (8.01)?
They are responsible for interpreting ethical principles and ensuring that research using human participants is done ethically. One member is a scientist, other has academic interests outside the sciences and one must be a community member not tied to the institution (+ prisoner advocate with prisoners)
What is the APA’s Ethical Standard 8?
Ethical standards for researchers of psychology
What is informed consent (8.02)?
The researchers obligation to explain the study to potential participants in everyday language and give them a chance to decide to participate or not and whether the data will be private/confidential
Omission and commission in deception
Researchers can decieve through omission (details withheld from participants) or commission (participants were actively lied to)
Deception in studies (8.07)
They must also be weighed - is the deception worth it? How big of a difference would it be if it was not in the study? Deception must be used as a last resort and participants must be debriefed after
Why is debriefing (8.08) done?
To restore trust in the participant after being deceived
What is 2 examples of research misconduct?
- Data Fabrication (8.10)
- Data Falsification
What are the consequences of data falsification and fabrication?
By misleading others by the false support for a theory, other researchers may spend time and resources to follow false leads to be more confident in theories than they should be. An example is Stapel and the vaccines cause autism study
Why might a researcher fabricate or falsify data?
Due to reputation, income and promotions which are all influenced by publications by researchers.
Merton’s norm of disinterestedness
Some researchers become personally invested in their own hypotheses and believe contradictory data is inaccurate
What two goals of psychological science are impacted by research misconduct?
- Openness
- Transparency
Merton’s norm of communality
Science belongs to everyone. Published data can be replicated and tested by other researchers
Transparency and research
While researchers can test different variables and different hypotheses, they should be transparent and report all of them. Otherwise, it misleads readers on the full picture of evidence.
What are the issues with plagiarism (8.11)?
It is unfair to take credit for another researcher’s findings - as it is a form of stealing. Cite appropriately, with page numbers in quotes and author’s names and dates.
Why is self-plagerising wrong?
It recycles portions of information from previous work that was the author’s, making it seem to the reader as if it was newly thought.
What are the issues with animal research (8.09)?
Regulations need to be in place to prevent harm, allow respect, and give compassion to animals.
How to conduct ethical research with animals?
They must be cared for humanly, they must as few animals as possible and make sure that the research is justified in using animal subjects - as well as following laws for animal care/protection and Animal care boards.
What are the three Rs of animal research?
- Replacement - there should be an attempt to find alternatives of the research
- Refinement - modification of the experiment to minimize/eliminate animal distress
- Reduction - Use the fewest animal subjects as possible
What are the attitudes of people to animal research?
Generally, people favour animal research more if they know it protects the welfare of the animal subjects. Animal rights groups are a bit more extreme and care for animal rights more than welfare (animals can be used if humans too, they should not bear the burden of research)
What 3 arguments do researchers make for animal research?
- It has resulted in multiple benefits for humans and animals
- Researchers are also sensitive to animal welfare and ensure they are treated well
- Researchers have already developed ways to minimise the amount of animals needed
