1. SOCW 671 #3 Research Ethics and Diversity

2. Class Session Objectives Selecting and informing persons participating in research Preventing and detecting potential harm to participants Reporting research Exploring ethical conflicts Listing sources of ethical guidance

3. Equitable Selection of Subjects Based on belief that the research has benefits to participants Ethical principle is that all relevant subjects have an equal chance of being included  Gender  Race and culture

4. Informed Consent Participants/subjects usually complete a consent form Securing a person’s consent to participate in research  need to differentiate between research, evaluation, and quality assurance  person, or someone responsible for this person, usually knows that they are involved in a research project  exceptions in area of naturalistic research (still calls for rigorous and responsible review)

5. Voluntary Participation Flows from informed consent People cannot be coerced to participate  therefore people must be fully informed  role of incentives need to be considered  need to guard against vulnerable populations being coerced

6. Privacy and Confidentiality Need to differentiate between confidentiality and anonymity  confidentiality: researcher may know who subject is  anonymity: researcher is does not know who subject is Respect for privacy (includes records)

7. Reasonable Risk and Harm to Subjects Researcher needs to anticipate what will be reasonable harm Those who voluntarily consent to research activities should be free from unreasonable risk of harm  What constitutes risk and harm  Paradox of payment

8. Withholding Treatment Potential problems occur when using:  control groups  single-system designs Can avoid ethical problems by offering treatment after the research period

9. Deception and Debriefing Should avoid using deception Need to use an Institutional Review Board (IRB) if deception is used Researcher has responsibility for debriefing subjects following the study

10. Data Monitoring In practice-oriented studies, responsibility to modify or terminate study is unanticipated consequences Responsibility for maintaining integrity of data and monitoring  when clear evidence arises concerning the unexpected negative consequences  if strong positive results are occurring, premature termination may be justified

11. Reporting Research Objectivity in judgement Proper credit Looking “Beyond the Moment” Statistical versus Practical Significance

12. Sources of Ethical Guidance NASW Code of Ethics Code of Federal Regulations (45 CRF 46), and IRBs Code of Ethics from research and evaluation associations such as  American Evaluation Association  American Statistical Association

13. Institutional Review Board Required of organizations conducting research with Federal funds Assume responsibility to assure that all research meet ethical standards Conduct three types of review  full  expedited  exempt

14. Introduction to Variables

15. Want to measure variables Variables are persons, places or things that can change A conceptual entity, any construct or characteristic to which different numerical values can be assigned for purposes of analysis or comparison

16. Variables Commonly synonymous with the terms factor or characteristic Independent, Dependent and Control variables Measurement is the process of assigning numbers (or things that take the place of numbers) to variables according to a set of rules