Q1 ethical issues

Question 1

what are the benefits of research?

Answer 1

basic knowledge, research improvements, human and/or animal welfare, researcher and participant benefits

Question 2

what are the costs of research?

Answer 2

time and effort (both researchers and participants), risks (participants mostly)

Question 3

what is the IRB?

Answer 3

institutional review board
they determine what research is worth doing and is ethical
made of board members from scientific and non-scientific communities
each university has their own IRB

Question 4

how would the IRB determine if a study is worth doing and ethical?

Answer 4

by running a cost-benefit analysis
benefits must outweigh the costs and participants must be protected

Question 5

can you conduct and publish research if it is not approved by an IRB?

Answer 5

no

Question 6

informed consent

Answer 6

participants agree to voluntarily participate in research after learning enough to make an knowledgable decision

Question 7

what must be included in an informed consent form?

Answer 7

informed consent must detail the risks of a study, let participants know they can quit the study at any time, and gives researcher contact information

Question 8

if a participant wishes to cease participation in a study, do they still get the incentive to participate?

Answer 8

YES

Question 9

debriefing

Answer 9

you do not tell a participant exactly what the hypothesis is before you conduct the study since it might impact their behavior
you must debrief after about any deceit used in the study and undo any harm done to participants from this deceit

Question 10

when might informed consent be waived?

Answer 10

when there is low to minimal risk (determined by the IRB) or there are no adverse effects to rights and welfare of participants
OR if it is not feasible to conduct the research with a consent form

Question 11

privacy

Answer 11

up to the discretion of the researcher and IRB

Question 12

when is observation OK vs not OK?

Answer 12

observation in public is OK (park, mall) but not in a place where people think they have privacy (locker room, therapy room)

Question 13

coercion

Answer 13

people cannot be pressured into participating in a study (real or implied)i

Question 14

example of implied coercion

Answer 14

if a teacher runs a study and tells their class about the study and that participation counts towards their grade

Question 15

can you offer excessive incentives to participate in a study?

Answer 15

no, and you also need to offer equitable alternatives for participation (easy extra credit assignment vs participating for points in a class)

Question 16

physical and mental harm in research

Answer 16

typically, you want to run a study with no greater probability or severity than that associated with daily living

Question 17

when can you run a study with greater than minimal risk?

Answer 17

if the IRB weighs the costs and benefits and approves a study
you must still warn participants of the risks, monitor for unexpected/adverse effects during the study, and debrief participants after the study is over

Question 18

when is deception OK in research?

Answer 18

some deception is OK if it outweighs the costs, is necessary to complete research, and if your participants are debriefed after the study
typically, confederates, false feedback, and presenting 2 related studies as unrelated is OK with debriefing

Question 19

what is the best way to debrief participants?

Answer 19

orally (vs written)

Question 20

why is debriefing necessary? (4)

Answer 20

1. to clarify the nature of the study for the participants
2. to remove stress or other negative consequences induced by the study
3. to obtain participants’ reactions to the study itself
4. to give participants the sense that their participation was important and appreciated

Question 21

what are some objections to deception in research?

Answer 21

lying and deceit is wrong
there can be undesirable consequences like people losing trust in research or not wanting to participate again

Question 22

confidentiality in research

Answer 22

data should only be used for research purposes and not be divulged to others

Question 23

how can we ensure anonymity of participants?

Answer 23

by assigning participants numbers not tied to their name or identifiable data

Question 24

when are special considerations made for specific populations in research?

Answer 24

protected/vulnerable populations: children, disabled, prisoners, pregnant people, fetuses

Question 25

p-hacking

Answer 25

journals tend to publish significant findings, so researchers may manipulate their data or examine it in a certain way to obtain significant values
NOT hypothesis driven
researchers may delete data points or run more analyses not laid out in their original plan (exploratory analyses are OK as long as this is explained)

Question 26

reproducibility

Answer 26

procedure should be so in detail that someone else can run the same experiment and obtain similar results

Question 27

open science

Answer 27

submitting your analysis plan openly beforehand so that you don’t run exploratory analyses and claim them as hypotheses created before data collection (a priori)