Ethics in Research

1
Ethics in Research

• The Ethical Standards of the American
  Psychological Association http//www.apa.org/ethi
  cs/ (2002 Ethics code, to be effective June 1,
  2003)http//www.apastyle.org
• Ethics in Cyberspace Research Consent, Privacy
  and Contribution http//www.rider.edu/users/suler
  /psycyber/ethics.html
• Ethical and legal aspects of human subjects
  research in cyberspace (a report from the
  American Association for the Advancement of
  Science)
• http//www.aaas.org/spp/dspp/sfrl/projects/intres
  /main.htm

2
Ethics for Social Scientists / psychologists

• 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

Thanks to Lawrence R. Gordon, University of
Vermont (http//www.uvm.edu/lgordon/)
3
Research Ethics (background)

• Where it comes from
• Cost-benefit considerations (Utilitarianism)
• Respect for human dignity (Deontology)
• Major principles underlying modern codes
• Respect for persons - autonomy/consent
• Beneficence - max benefit and min harm
• Justice - benefits and burdens distributed fairly

4
Ethics of Human Research

• We cant 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

5
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)

6
IRB _at_ MSU (UCRIHS)

• At MSU, The Office of Research Ethics and
  Standards (ORES), houses among other things, the
  human subjects review
• IRB at MSU is called UCHRIHS (University
  Committee on Research Involving Human Subjects)
• http//www.msu.edu/user/ucrihs/
• Contains forms, FAQ, Tutorials, Regulations and
  contant info.

7
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

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Issues

• Voluntary participation
• Informed consent
• need to know what might keep them for consenting
• need to be able to consent
• need to know the right to withdraw
• Coercion
• vulnerable populations
• payment/compensation

9
Issues

• Deception
• Is the value of the study worth it?
• Alternatives? Must be last alternative!
• Needs to be explained ASAP Dehoaxing
• Debriefing
• Explain purpose of study
• remove bad feelings Desensitizing
• get information
• thank participants

10
Informed consent

• Documented agreement with participants
• clarifies the nature of the research and the
  responsibilities of each party
• Use language that is reasonably understandable
• Obtained prior to any data collection
• Explain significant factors that may influence
  the person's willingness to participate
• risks, discomfort, adverse effects, or
  limitations on confidentiality and other aspects
  about which the person may inquire.
• Tell participants that they can withdraw from the
  research at any time
• If participants are legally incapable of giving
  informed consent, provide an appropriate
  explanation, obtain the person's consent, AND
  obtain permission from a legally authorized
  person
• Inform participants of how data will be used
  (privacy/confidentiality)
• Provide an opportunity to the participants to
  obtain information about research findings
• Give contact information for researcher and IRB
  official

11
Issues

• Experimenter conduct
• PI has assumes all responsibility for fair
  treatment of participants (e.g. by assistants)
• 6 Ps of conduct
• Present
• Prompt
• Prepared
• Polite
• Private
• Professional

12
Submitting Protocols

• Exempt from review
• Expedited review
• Full review

13
Full review

• Full review
• 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)

14
Expedited review

• Expedited review
• 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)

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Exempt from review

• Exempt from review
• 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)