1. Chapter 3: Ethical issues in social research
Voluntary participation
No harm to participants
Tuskegee experiments
Stanford Prison Experiment: students assumed roles as prisoners & guards
Psychology classes
Study of reporting behavior of HIV-positive population
Informed consent: subjects base their voluntary participation in research project with full understanding of risks involved

2. Chapter 3: Ethical issues in social research
Anonymity and Confidentiality
Anonymity: cannot identify a given respondent
Confidentiality: can identify a given respondent but promises not to do so
Exxon Valdez survey
WSU grad student Rik Scarce in jail for refusing to answer grand jury’s questions that would have violated confidentiality
Be careful—courts don’t see the promise as privileged information
Remove ID information as soon as practicable

3. Chapter 3: Ethical issues in social research, p.2
Deception
ex. study of AIDS reporting behavior (Univ. of Del.)
ex. Tearoom Trade
Researcher acted as “watchqueen” then recorded license plate numbers for follow-up through DMV
ex. Milgram’s human obedience (shock) study
2/3 of subjects continued through highest shock level
Analysis and reporting: responsibility to colleagues
Institutional Review Boards (IRB)
See exemption categories on pp from Federal guidelines

4. Political issues in social research
Focus on substance and use of research
Unlike ethical issues, no formal codes of acceptable political conduct
Ideology must not violate objectivity
No research is “value-free”
But ideology cannot push the research process

5. Four lessons regarding political issues in social research
Science in NOT untouched by politics
Science manages to proceed in the midst of political controversy & hostility
Awareness of ideological enriches the study and practice of social science methods
Research must inform public debate
FCC and research on JSA’s