Ethical Principles

1
Chapter 3

• Ethical Principles

2
Chapter Outline

• Ethical Issues in Social Research
• Three Ethical Controversies
• The Politics of Social Research

3
Ethical Issues in Social Research

• Voluntary participation.
• No harm to participants.
• Voluntary participation is based on a full
  understanding of possible risks.
• Anonymity and confidentiality.

4
The Dark History of Research

• Nazi Medical Experiments in Europe.

5
Nazi Experiments

• Photograph High-Altitude medical experiments in
  Dachau. In order to test how pilots who have to
  eject from their planes will fare, SS doctors
  simulated high-altitude conditions in a chamber,
  and exposed people to these conditions. Many
  prisoners died during such experiments. In order
  for the simulation to be as real as possible, the
  prisoner is hung by parachute straps (From the US
  Holocaust Museum Site).

6
Tuskegee Syphilis Study (Alabama)
7
Deception

• 1932, US Public Health Service initiated a study
  of syphilis in African-American men
• Study continued for 40 years, finally discovered
  and stopped in 1972
• Purpose to study the natural course of disease in
  African-American men
• Lacked informed consent, with held treatment from
  subjects
• Listen to RealAudio file of NewsHour's segment
  Lasting Legacy (Click here if you need  Free
  RealAudio Player)
• Tuskegee apology, human experimentation

8
Willowbrook Study (New York)

• Mid 1950s to early 1970s research was conducted
  by Dr. Saul Krugman at the Willowbrook
  institution for mentally retarded.
• Subjects were mentally retarded children
  deliberately injected with hepatitis
• Children could not understand study they were
  involved
• Parents were forced to give consent for their
  children to be in the study, in order to obtain
  placement at the facility, as Willowbrook was
  overcrowded, and only the research wing would
  admit new patients.
• Persons conducting the study defended it by
  saying that the children would have gotten
  hepatitis anyway (just by being exposed to
  everyday conditions at a mental institution) and
  that the children in the study benefited by
  having a cleaner environment, better supervision
  and higher nurse patient ratio.

9
Human Radiation Experiments
10
Ethical Issues in Social Research

• Deception
• Needs to be justified by compelling scientific
  or administrative concerns.
• Analysis and Reporting
• Researchers must be honest about their findings
  and research.

11
Ethical Issues in Social Research

• Institutional Review Boards
• Review research proposals involving humans so
  they can guarantee the rights and interests are
  protected.
• Professional Codes of Ethics
• Most professional associations have formal codes
  of conduct that describe acceptable and
  unacceptable professional behavior.

12
Ethical Controversy Laud Humphreys

• Study of homosexual behavior in public restrooms.
• Lied to participants by telling them he was a
  voyeur-participant.
• Traced participants to their home and interviewed
  them under false pretenses.

13
Ethical Controversy Stanley Milgram

• Study of human obedience.
• Subjects had role of "teacher" and administered a
  shock to "pupils".
• Pupils were actually part of the experiment.

14
Zimbardo Prison Experiment

• A simulation gone bad

15
Ethics and Politics of Social Research

• Ethics deals mostly with methods used in
  research.
• Politics deals with the substance and use of
  research.
• There are no formal codes of accepted political
  conduct.

16
Project Camelot

• Proposed research project concerning the topic of
  internal war within a nation.
• The project was canceled and dismantled.
• Science is neutral on topics of war and peace,
  scientists are not.

17
Politics in Perspective

• Three issues
• Science is not untouched by politics.
• Science does not proceed in the midst of
  political controversy.
• Awareness of ideologies enriches the study and
  practice of social research methods.

18
Major Concepts

• Respect for Persons
• Beneficence
• Justice

19
The IRB Process