1. Chapter 3
Research Ethics

2. Questionable Practices
Watson & Rayner (1920)
Little Albert
Landis (1924)
Rat Beheading
Dennis (1941)
Impoverished environment
Nazi Medical Experiments ( )

3. Ethics in Behavioral Research
Ethics – a set of standards governing the conduct of a person or the members of a profession
Describes appropriate human action in areas such as business, medicine, health, religion, and research
Research ethics is used to identify the actions that a researcher must take to conduct responsible and moral research
Engaging in responsible research requires a researcher to anticipate what might happen.

4. Developing the APA Code of Ethics
Late 30’s: Standing APA committee
1947 verdict from the Nuremberg trial included a section called Permissible Medical Experiments, which has come to be known as the Nuremburg Code
1953: First APA code of ethics (Hobbs committee, the critical incidents technique)

5. Developing the APA Code of Ethics
1974: U.S. Congress passes the National Research Act
1978: The Belmont Report prompted the establishment of Institutional Review Boards (IRB) at the local level to review and approve all federally funded research
APA Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct  2002 (2010 amendments)

6. APA Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct
General Principles
Beneficence and non-malfeasance
Constantly weigh costs & benefits; protect from harm; produce greatest good
Fidelity and responsibility
Be professional; constantly be aware of responsibility to society
Integrity
Be scrupulously honest
Justice
Always treat people fairly
Respect for peoples’ rights and dignity
Safeguard individual rights; protect rights of privacy and confidentiality

7. Ethical Guidelines for Research with Humans: Identifying Risks
In 1974, as part of the National Research Act, the federal government mandated that IRBs be in place for any college or university receiving federal funds for research. (IRB = Institutional Review Board)
At least five people, including at least one member of the outside community and a minimum of one nonscientist determine whether the project meets ethical guidelines
Research protocol: A proposal submitted by a researcher to an IRB, outlining the details of a study he or she wishes to complete and how he or she will address potential ethical concerns
Some research is exempt; expedited; full review
Public data, public officials
Educational data
Minimal to no risk; observational data, etc
Key factor: degree of risk to subjects

8. Ethical Guidelines for Research with Humans: Informed Consent
Informed consent and deception in research
Consent: sufficient information to decide whether to participate
Assent: consent of minor following description in reasonable language
Deception rationale
Desire to have subjects act naturally
Milgram (1963) obedience study as an example
Cover story  effect of punishment on learning
Real purpose  limits of obedience to authority
No consent needed in some circumstances
some survey, educational, archival, and observational research

9. Ethical Guidelines for Research with Humans: Informed Consent, continued.
Elements of consent
Study’s basic description
Enough information to decide whether to participate
How long participation will take
Risks of participation
Incentives of participation
May quit at any time
Confidentiality and anonymity ensured
Contact information given (researcher, IRB)
Opportunity to obtain final results of the study
Signatures

10. Human Participation in Research: IRBs and the APA Code of Conduct
Additional guidelines for preparing and writing an informed consent form are as follows:
Avoid exculpatory language
Use numeric values (such as <1%) to use the probability of “rare” risks when possible
For participants requiring or requesting a translator, one must be provided to them, and the translator in addition to the participant should sign the form
Avoid technical jargon
Write as if you are speaking to the participant
Use black, nonitalicized, 11-point (or larger) font throughout the form

11. Ethical Guidelines for Research with Humans: Informed Consent
Your rights as a participant:
Client/patient, student, and subordinate research participants
Researchers must protect potential participants from adverse consequences associated with declining or withdrawing participation in a research study
Ex. College students often participate in research. As an incentive, credits toward a particular college course are offered. These credits must be granted in full so long as the student shows up to participate; granting these credits must never be contingent on the student’s actual participation in a study

12. Human Participation in Research: IRBs and the APA Code of Conduct
Offering inducements for research participation
Incentives can include monetary compensation, gift cards, or entry into prize drawing
Researchers should avoid offering excessive or inappropriate incentives that are likely to coerce participants
If the incentive is large enough, participants may participate in a study because the “payoff is too good to pass up” even when their actual intention would be to decline participation
Excessive incentives are viewed as a type of coercion or undue influence

13. Ethical Guidelines for Research with Humans
Historical example of poor consent
Tuskegee Syphilis study ( )
MK-ULTRA (CIA & LSD) (50s-70s)
Consent with special populations
Children and other special groups (e.g., prisoners)
Special care to avoid feelings of coercion
Q. When did the U.S. Public Health Service Syphilis Study at Tuskegee become unethical? A. The study became unethical in the 1940s when penicillin became the recommended drug for treatment of syphilis and researchers did not offer it to the subjects.

14. Ethical Guidelines for Research with Humans: Debriefing : Treating participants well
Dehoaxing
Desensitizing
Participant crosstalk
Code allows partial debriefing followed by full report at completion of the study
Research ethics and the Internet
Problems with ensuring consent
Problems with conducting effective debriefing
Facebook :  "Experimental Evidence of massive-scale emotional contagion through social networks" 

15. Ethical Guidelines for Research with Animals
Advantages of using animals in research:
The entire life of an animal can be controlled from birth to death
Researchers can breed animals to control genetic differences
Researchers can control an animal’s living environment
The issue of animal rights:
Using animals in psychological research
Aids both humans and animals
Sometimes there is no alternative (tissue, simulation/computer model)
Nevertheless, animals cannot consent.

16. Animal Subject Research: IACUCs and the APA Code of Conduct
To protect animals in research, a research study must be reviewed and approved by an institutional animal care and use committee (IACUC)
IACUC: A review board that consists of at least one veterinarian, one scientist with experience using animals, and one public member from the community

17. Animal Subject Research: IACUCs and the APA Code of Conduct

18. Animal Subject Research: IACUCs and the APA Code of Conduct
The APA code of conduct includes a list of researcher responsibilities to protect the care and use of animals
Researchers who use animals in research must do the following:
Comply with federal, state, and local laws in the care and use of animals
Use experienced, trained professionals to supervise animals (even student assistants must be trained)!
Make a reasonable effort to minimize discomfort, infection, illness, and pain
Use justified procedures (incl. surgical) that minimize pain
Use appropriate anesthesia in a timely manner to minimize pain
Researchers are responsible for the welfare of animal subjects for the full duration of time that they are under the researchers care

19. Additional Ethical Considerations: Scientific Integrity
Scientific integrity – Extent to which a researcher is honest and truthful in his or her actions, values, methods, measures, and dissemination of research
Reporting research results
Truthfully report data and never fabricate research results by making up data that were never observed or measured
If or when a researchers make a mistake regarding the data they report, they must correct the mistake as soon as the mistake is discovered

20. Additional Ethical Considerations: Scientific Integrity
Plagiarism – An individual’s use of someone else’s ideas or work that is represented as the individual’s own ideas or work
Researchers are expected to represent their own ideas in published work and, when they use ideas from other people, to appropriately give credit to others
Publication credit
All individuals who make substantial contributions to a work must be recognized as authors of that work; those who make minor contributions should also be recognized

21. Additional Ethical Considerations: Scientific Integrity
Duplicate publication of data
The same work should never be published twice without recognition of what is being repubished and why
Sharing research data for verification
Researchers are expected to share their data upon request from others for the purposes of inspection, reanalysis, and replication
Replication: Reproduction of research procedures under identical conditions for the purposes of observing the same phenomenon