Lecturer: Dr. Adote Anum , Dept. of Psychology Contact Information: - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

College of Education School of Continuing and Distance Education

2014/2015 – 2016/2017

Lecturer: Dr. Adote Anum, Dept. of Psychology Contact Information: aanum@ug.edu.gh

Session Overview

• Research ethics are a set of principles that guide

researchers in conducting good research. Researchers’ main interest is to provide explanations to human

• phenomenon. There are several incidents in history in

what scientists have abused the rights of people sometimes inadvertently in trying to achieve this goal. Two common examples are the Tuskegee Syphilis Study and Milgram’s Obedience Study.

• In this Session, we will discuss what these are rules are

and why they have become necessary in psychological research.

Session Outline

The key topics to be covered in the session are as follows:

• Topic One: What is Ethics in research?
• Topic Two: What are the APA ethical principles?

Reading List

• Cozby, P. C. (2004). Methods in behavioral research

(8th Ed.). Mayfield Pub. Co. CA. (Chapter 2)

• Milgram, S. (1963). Behavioral study of obedience.

Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 67, 371– 378

• http://open.lib.umn.edu/psychologyresearchmethods/

(Chapter 1, pages 38 – 55). Please refer to Sakai for the PDF version of this textbook.

WHAT ARE ETHICS IN RESEARCH?

Topic One

Ethical Issues in Scientific Research

• We will start this Session by reviewing some

landmark studies that have guided the study of ethics in psychological research.

• There are several but there are two that stand out

and you have to be informed about them.

The Tuskegee Syphilis Study

• From 1932 to 1972 a longitudinal study was conducted in

Macon county, Alabama.

• 399 men with syphilis were compared with 201

uninfected men. All participants were African American

• Participants were promised free treatments for “bad

blood.” Participants were not told they had syphilis.

• By 1945, Penicillin was the treatment of choice for

syphilis. * Reference: http://www.cdc.gov/std/syphilis/default.htm

The Tuskegee Syphilis Study

• Men agreed to be freely examined and treated.

However, they were not informed of the real purpose

• f the study and thus could not provide informed

consent.

• Men were never given adequate treatment for
• syphilis. Never given the choice to quit the study
• nce the benefits of penicillin were known to

researchers.

Milgram (1963) Obedience Study

• 40 Male participants are told that the study is about

memory and learning. The goal is to help another person learn word pairs (e.g., nice-day, dog-cat).

• How? Shock the Learner!
• “Random” draw to see who is the teacher and who is

the learner. The learner is really a confederate.

• Teacher is put in front of an electronic shock

generator with a range of voltage levels (range 15 to 450 volts)

• Labels: Slight Shock to Danger: Severe Shock
• At 300 volts the Learner pounds on the wall

Milgram (1963) Obedience Study

• “Of the 40 subjects, 26 obeyed the orders of the

experimenter to the end, proceeding to punish the victim until they reached the most potent shock available on the generator…”

• The maximum shock was labeled 450 volts, and this

was two steps beyond the designation: “Danger: Severe Shock”

The Milgram Obedience Study

• What are the Ethical Concerns with this Study?
• Please summarise in your words (no more than three

sentences) what bothers you about this research.

Belmont Report

• Created on 18 April 1979 – named after the Belmont

Conference Center in Elkridge, Maryland.

• Articulated three "basic ethical principles" relevant to

research involving human participants

– Respect for Persons – Beneficence – Justice

• Reference:

http://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/humansubjects/guidance/belmont. htm#xrespect

Ethical Issues in Scientific Research

• Diener & Crandall (1978) have identified three main

areas of ethical concerns in psychological research.

– Relationship between society and science – Professional Issues

Falsification Fabrication Plagiarism

– Treatment of research participants

• Our emphasis is on this

WHAT ARE THE APA ETHICAL PRINCIPLES?

Topic Two

Ethics in Psychological Research

• What are Ethics?

– Ethic in general may be defined as the professional values foundational to the profession – In research, it may be referred to the correct rules or guidelines of conduct that are necessary when caring out research.

• Although they are not legal issues, when not

followed they can invalidate the outcome of research which is a major objective of scientific research

6 Key Themes in Ethical Research

1. Informed Consent 2. Freedom from Coercion 3. Protection from Physical and Psychological Harm 4. Protection of Privacy, Confidentiality, or Anonymity 5. The Risk-Benefit Rule 6. Debriefing

Ethical Issues in Scientific Research

• Respect for Persons and their autonomy

– Free will to make decisions about participation or give consent – informed consent

• Beneficence and Nonmaleficence

– Studies should be conducted in way that minimizes the probability of harm to the participants and maximizes the probability of benefit

Ethical Issues in Scientific Research

• Justice

– Who gets the benefit and who gets to carry the burden

• Trust

– The issue of deception

• Debriefing

What is Deception in Research?

• Deception is the act of misleading or wrongly

informing someone about the true nature of a situation

• This done when researchers think knowing about the

true nature of the research can influence how the participants respond and therefore affect the reliability and validity of the study findings

• Can you thinking of some circumstances that might

be relevant?

What is Deception in Research?

• Active Deception

– The experimenter actively misleads the participant. For example use of placebo in an experiment.

• Passive Deception

– Information is withheld from the participant.

What is Deception in Research?

• Deception can have negative consequences that may

include:

– It violates an individual's right to choose to participate – It raises questions about the objectives of the study – May lead to distrust or cause unintended psychological problems as in the case of Milgram’s obedience study

What is Deception in Research?

• According to the American Psychological Association

(APA), it is permissible to use deception under these conditions:

– The research is important – There are no alternatives – There is no foreseeable harm to participants

• Sometimes deception is the only way to investigate

important questions. This is very common in social psychological research or personality research.

APA Guidelines on Deception

• Psychologists do not conduct a study involving deception

unless they have determined that the use of deceptive techniques is justified by the study's significant prospective scientific, educational, or applied value and that effective nondeceptive alternative procedures are not feasible.

• Psychologists do not deceive prospective participants about

research that is reasonably expected to cause physical pain or severe emotional distress.

• Psychologists explain any deception that is an integral feature
• f the design and conduct of an experiment to participants as

early as is feasible, preferably at the conclusion of their participation, but no later than at the conclusion of the data collection, and permit participants to withdraw their data.

References

• Cozby, P. C. (2004). Methods in behavioral research (8th Ed.).

Mayfield Pub. Co. CA. (Chapter 2)

• Milgram, S. (1963). Behavioral study of obedience. Journal
• f Abnormal and Social Psychology, 67, 371–378
• http://www.cdc.gov/std/syphilis/default.htm
• http://open.lib.umn.edu/psychologyresearchmethods/ (Chapter 3,

pages 38 – 55). Please refer to Sakai for the PDF version of this textbook.

THANK YOU