RM 4 Flashcards
3 example categories of ethics violation
- not treating participants respectfully
- harming participants
- targeting a disadvantaged social group
Balance between…
risks to participants and the value of knowledge gained
The Belmont Report
one of the reports containing ethical guidelines for research
Principles of the Belmont Report
- Principle of Respect for Persons
- Principle of beneficence
- Principle of Justice
The Principle of Respect for Persons
- potential participants should be treated as autonomous agents:
- choosing to participate in a study or not and why:
—> Should not be suggested that negative consequences will follow when not participating
—> incentive for participation may not be too attractive
—> informed consent: every potential participant should go through the process of learning about the research project and considering its risks and benefits
- choosing to participate in a study or not and why:
- people who have less autonomy are entitled to special protection when considering the risks of a research
Principle of Beneficence
Researchers should take precautions to avoid harming participants and to ensure their well-being:
—> anonymous studies: no identifying info is collected
—> confidential study: collection SOME data just to identify the participant, but making sure it is not disclosed
Principle of Justice
in need of a fair balance between the kind of people who participate and those who benefit from the study
= participants should be a representative group of the people who benefit from the research
APA Ethical Guideline
Ethical guideline created by the American Psychological Association: Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of conduct
APA’s Five General Principles
Same as Belmont’s Report, plus 2:
1. Beneficence and nonmaleficence: no causing of suffering, conducting research that will benefit society
- Justice: strive to treat all groups of people fairly, sampling research participants that will benefit from research
- Respect for people’s rights and dignity: recognise that people are autonomous agents
- Integrity: stay current on empirical evidence for therapeutic techniques
- Fidelity and responsibility: avoid sexual relationships with clients, relationship of trust
Institutional review board
committee responsible for interpreting ethical principles an ensuring that the research are being conducted ethically
The APA’s guideline states 10 extra ethical standards. Important rules from the 8th standard:
a. research must be evaluated by an IRB
b. informed consent is obligatory, the study must be explained in everyday language, sharing about the way the info is stored
c. researchers should carefully consider the level of deception they apply in their research: there will always be deception
d. participants should be debriefed: informed about the study’s hypotheses design and applied deception
2 important standards in the category of publishing research
- forms of research misconduct is manipulating the results
—> data fabrication: creating data to fit the research
—> data falsification : ex deleting data to fit the research - plagiarism
Ethical guidelines regarding animal subjects
- animals should be cared for humanely, research should be valuable enough, using as few animals as possible, following laws for animal care and protection
- researchers should always look for alternatives to animals, modify the design of their experiment to minimise or eliminate animal distress, use as few animals as possible
Interaction effects
occurs when the effect of the original variable (such as cell phone use) depends on the level of another variable (driver’s age)
ex: does the effect of cell phones depend on age?
“difference in differences”
difference 1: between cell phone and control conditions
might be different 2: for older drivers than younger drivers
“the effect of one independent variable depends on the level of the other independent variable”
