Ethics in studies with human participants

1
Ethics in studies with human participants
2
Participants vs. subjects

• More an attitude than a matter of wording
• Language acknowledges participation
• Differences between US and Canada/UK
• Include in acknowledgements section of paper

3
Principles of ethical treatment

• Disclosure
• Tell participants (Ps) as much as possible as
  soon as possible
• Privacy
• Minimize amount revealed about Ps
• Individual consent
• Ps must knowingly agree to participate
• Organizational consent (if necessary)
• May require managerial consent

4
Levels of invasiveness

• Questionnaire
• Phone survey
• Visit to home / workplace
• Audio recording
• Video recording
• Physiological measurement

5
Levels of possible injury

• Information apparent to a casual observer whose
  presence is known
• Opinions about products
• Personal values, controversial opinions
• Some risk of physical injury
• Significant risk of physical injury

6
Levels of concealment from participant

• Aware of goals, hypotheses
• Naive about studys purpose but fully informed
  about task
• Misled about the nature of the task

7
Levels of distribution

• Design team only, destroyed afterwards
• Whole implementation team
• Internally archived for ongoing work
• Distribution to select colleagues
• Published (including making available on a
  computer network)

8
Protected groups(require special permission)

• First nations members on tribal lands
• Pregnant women
• Convicts
• Minors (under 19 in BC)
• Mentally incompetent

9
Rewarding participation

• Access to results
• Prize(s) for high(er) performance
• Payment for time
• Sense of contribution
• (Sometimes) Sense of control over work/play
  environment