Transcript ppt

Ethics of Research I
Lawrence R. Gordon
Psychology Research Methods I
PSYCHOLOGY: SCIENCE AND
PROFESSION
 Major psychology organizations
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APA -- www.apa.org -- Amer Psychol Assoc
APS -- www.psychologicalscience.org -- Amer
Psychol Society
 APA “Divisions” -- currently 55 (?)
 APA Guidelines: Ethics and Publication
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Ethics for Psychologists (1994) -- 1992 code
• http://www.apa.org/ethics/
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Publication Manual of the APA (2001)
• http://www.apastyle.org
ETHICS FOR PSYCHOLOGISTS
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General Standards
Evaluation, assessment, or intervention
Advertising and other public statements
Therapy
Privacy and confidentiality
Teaching, training supervision, research,
and publishing
 Forensic activities
 Resolving ethical issues
WHENCE RESEARCH ETHICS?
 From moral philosophy and religion
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Utilitarianism -- cost-benefit considerations
Deontology -- respect for human dignity
 Major principles underlying modern codes:
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Respect for persons - autonomy/consent
Beneficence - max benefit and min harm
Justice - benefits and burdens distributed fairly
 Events - medicine and psychology
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Nazi experimentation, Tuskeegee, Willowbrook
Watson & Rayner, Milgram, Cyril Burt
Consider the following study:
 Hypothesized that depression leads to drug
use in college students
 Manipulate depression by failing some on
an exam
 Measure drug use by having them go to a
party where someone offers them drugs
 Do “fails” take more than others?
 Sound okay? Why or why not?
Ethics of Human Research
 We can’t just do whatever we want!
 Protocols prepared and submitted to the
Institutional Review Board (IRB) for
approval
 IRB needs to give you permission to do
your study
What Is the IRB?
 Committee responsible for reviewing all
proposed research involving human
participants at all schools receiving federal
funds for research
 Members include faculty members from
different departments, at least one
community member, at least one
nonscientist (at least 5 total members)
 And, oh yeah, “Institutional Review Board”
What the IRB Does
 Its chief function: Considers costs and
benefits of the research
 Is the research question worth the use of
human participants?
 Because human participants do not need to
participate in studies, their rights are the
highest priority
Issues
 Voluntary participation
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Informed consent
• need to know what might keep them for consenting
• need to be able to consent
• need to know the right to withdraw
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Coercion
• vulnerable populations
• payment/compensation
Issues
 Deception
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Is the value of the study worth it?
Alternatives? [Must be last alternative!]
Needs to be explained ASAP [Dehoaxing]
 Debriefing
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Explain purpose of study
remove bad feelings [Desensitizing]
get information
thank participants
Issues
 Experimenter conduct
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PI has assumes all responsibility for fair
treatment of participants (e.g. by assistants)
6 P’s of conduct
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Present
Prompt
Prepared
Polite
Private
Professional
Submitting Protocols
 Exempt from review
 Expedited review
 Full review
 Quick look – review and more details next
class!
Submitting Protocols
 Full review
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study of vulnerable populations
use of physically invasive techniques (e.g.
drugs, exercise, x-rays)
psychological or emotional distress
behavior manipulation (includes ALL
deception)
sensitive data (with ID) (e.g. drugs, sex, crime)
videotaping (potential for ID)
Submitting Protocols
 Expedited review
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voice recordings (e.g. study of speech defects)
studies of behavior w/o manipulation or stress
study of existing documents that are not
publicly available
use of noninvasive clinical assessments (such as
weight, sensory acuity, EKG, but NOT x-rays)
Submitting Protocols
 Exempt from review
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Educational practices
Anonymous survey, interview, or naturalistic
observation (no identifiers)
Study of existing data, documents, or archival
records that are publicly available (no ID)
Consumer surveys (ex. Quality of dining hall
food)
WRAP-UP
 Profession of Psychology
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Clinical
Experimental
Research / Application
Research / Application
 In ALL aspects, first concern is the ethical
treatment of participants, clients, consumers
 IF TIME
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Some web sites (APA, IRB)