Ethics of Research I Lawrence R. Gordon Psychology Research Methods I

PSYCHOLOGY: SCIENCE AND PROFESSION §Major psychology organizations l APA Amer Psychol Assoc l APS Amer Psychol Society §APA “Divisions” -- currently 55 (?) §APA Guidelines: Ethics and Publication l Ethics for Psychologists (1994) code l Publication Manual of the APA (2001)

ETHICS FOR 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

WHENCE RESEARCH ETHICS? §From moral philosophy and religion l Utilitarianism -- cost-benefit considerations l Deontology -- respect for human dignity §Major principles underlying modern codes: l Respect for persons - autonomy/consent l Beneficence - max benefit and min harm l Justice- benefits and burdens distributed fairly §Events - medicine and psychology l Nazi experimentation, Tuskeegee, Willowbrook l 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 l Informed consent need to know what might keep them for consenting need to be able to consent need to know the right to withdraw l Coercion vulnerable populations payment/compensation

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

Issues §Experimenter conduct l PI has assumes all responsibility for fair treatment of participants (e.g. by assistants) l 6 P’s of conduct 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 l study of vulnerable populations l use of physically invasive techniques (e.g. drugs, exercise, x-rays) l psychological or emotional distress l behavior manipulation (includes ALL deception) l sensitive data (with ID) (e.g. drugs, sex, crime) l videotaping (potential for ID)

Submitting Protocols §Expedited review l voice recordings (e.g. study of speech defects) l studies of behavior w/o manipulation or stress l study of existing documents that are not publicly available l use of noninvasive clinical assessments (such as weight, sensory acuity, EKG, but NOT x-rays)

Submitting Protocols §Exempt from review l Educational practices l Anonymous survey, interview, or naturalistic observation (no identifiers) l Study of existing data, documents, or archival records that are publicly available (no ID) l Consumer surveys (ex. Quality of dining hall food)

WRAP-UP §Profession of Psychology l ClinicalResearch / Application l Experimental Research / Application §In ALL aspects, first concern is the ethical treatment of participants, clients, consumers §IF TIME l Some web sites (APA, IRB)