Ethics Psych 231: Research Methods in Psychology

Announcements Exam 1: on Monday Univ college writing help:

Ethics Ethics – people should be treated as ends not means PSI CHI / SPA Panel Discussion: Ethics Monday Sept 14, 7:30 PM DeGarmo 206

Ethical Responsibilities in Research Two basic categories of ethical concerns: Need to consider the rights of our participants in our research Need to behave ethically as scientists and practitioners

Consider ethics at each step How are participants selected? What methods may be used on the participant population? What measurement techniques will be used? What design is appropriate? How are the data analyzed? How are the results reported? Ethical Responsibilities in Research

Using humans in research For the most part the researcher has the power You know what is going to be done to the participants Participants may feel like they have to do it

Institutional Review Board IRB Criteria Minimize risk Benefits > Risks Equal opportunity sampling Informed consent Documentation of consent Data monitoring Privacy & Confidentiality Monitoring of ethics

Respect for persons Basic courtesy Informed consent Debriefing Avoid deception Beneficence Protection from harm Cost/Benefits analysis Confidentiality Justice Freedom from coercion APA’s code of ethics

Informed consent Information to allow a person to decide if they want to participate Basic purpose of the study Participation is voluntary Risks involved Benefits involved Rights to refuse or terminate participation Assent - guardians if participants are not competent e.g., children, developmentally disabled people

Using deception in research Passive deception Withholding information about the study Active deception Deliberately misleading participants

Using deception in research Avoid it when possible Alternative to deception Role-playing When not possible to avoid Make sure that you are up front with all possible risks Potential results must be worth it Must debrief participants as soon as possible (either right after participation or as soon as project is over)

Costs/Benefits analysis Costs: all potential risks to the participants Physical harm Psychological harm Loss of confidentiality Benefits: the “good” outcomes Direct benefits to participants Benefits to knowledge base Benefits to world at large

Scientific Integrity Fraud prevention Replication – repeat a research study to validate results Peer Review – critical analysis of research by peers in the same area Plagiarism – taking credit for another’s work or ideas Avoided by citing the ideas or words of others

Ethical responsibility to science Dirty tricks (this will get you thrown out) Questionable tricks (these are a little fuzzier, but be wary) Neat tricks (accepted as okay, and sometimes necessary) Ethics in Science Quiz

Ethical responsibility to science Fabrication of results Little or no attempt to minimize demand biases Reformulating your theory as you go Falsifying credentials Plagiarism Little or no attempt to minimize confounds Deliberately hiding (significant) errors in published work Little or no attempt to minimize demand characteristics DT QT DT QT NT Dirty tricks Questionable tricks Neat tricks Ethics in Science Quiz

Ethical responsibility to science Throwing out data Reorganizing order of report of experiments Violations of underlying statistical assumptions Strategic graphing of the data Duplicate publications (presented as new) Selective reporting of the results Leaving out some bad experiments (not bad results) QT or DT QT NT DT Dirty tricks Questionable tricks Neat tricks depends reason for throwing out Ethics in Science Quiz

Exam 1 Exam 1: 15% of final grade Short answer & multiple choice Covers – lectures, textbook, lab material