Chapter 3: Ethics in Behavioral Research PDF

Chapter 3: Ethics in Behavioral Research © McGraw Hill LLC 1  Learning Objectives 1. Summarize the ethical principles in the APA Ethics Code concerning research with human research participants. 2. Provide examples of what is analyzed...

Chapter 3: Ethics in Behavioral Research © McGraw Hill LLC 1  Learning Objectives 1. Summarize the ethical principles in the APA Ethics Code concerning research with human research participants. 2. Provide examples of what is analyzed in a risk-benefit analysis. 3. Describe the concept of informed consent and how to create a document to establish informed consent. 4. Describe the function of an Institutional Review Board and understand the distinctions among exempt, expedited, limited, and full review. 5. Analyze a study in terms of its risk and classify it as minimal risk or greater than minimal risk. 6. Summarize the ethical issues concerning research with nonhuman animals. 7. Define and understand the concept of research fraud and its connection to ethics and the ethical code. 8. Define and understand plagiarism (including word-for-word and paraphrasing) and describe how to avoid it. © McGraw Hill LLC 2  Milgram’s Obedience Experiment Stanley Milgram conducted a series of studies (1963, 1964, and 1965) to study the obedience to authority. Volunteers were told they would be participating in a study on the effects of punishment on learning. Each would administer punishment—an electric shock—to a “learner” who was actually a confederate of the experimenter. Approximately 65% of the participants continued to deliver shocks to the highest level. The results challenged many of our beliefs about our ability to resist authority, but the study is also an important example when discussing ethics in behavioral research. © McGraw Hill LLC 3  Sachsenhausen concentration camp © McGraw Hill LLC 4  Historical Context of Current Ethical Standards 1 The Nuremberg Code was a set of 10 rules of medical research conduct developed in response to Nazi research atrocities. The Declaration of Helsinki expanded on the Nuremberg Code in 1964 and required journal editors to ensure published research was compliant. © McGraw Hill LLC 6  Historical Context of Current Ethical Standards 2 Continued news about ethically questionable studies spurred production of the Belmont Report in 1979. It defines the principles and applications that apply to medical and behavioral research investigations. The three basic ethical principles of the Belmont Report: Principle of Beneficence: Research should confer benefits, with minimal risks, as determined by a risk-benefit analysis. Principle of Respect for Persons (Autonomy): Participants are treated as autonomous and can exercise informed consent. Principle of Justice: The benefits and risks of research should be allocated fairly when selecting research subjects. © McGraw Hill LLC 7  APA Ethics Code 1 The APA Ethics Code, periodically amended, applies to psychologists in their many roles. It presents five general principles of conduct. 1. As in the Belmont Report, the principle of beneficence refers to the need for research to maximize benefits and minimize any possible harmful effects of participation. 2. The principle of fidelity and responsibility is that psychologists must establish relationships of trust and be aware of their responsibilities to society and to the specific communities in which they work. © McGraw Hill LLC 8  APA Ethics Code 2 3. The principle of integrity is that psychologists must seek to promote accuracy, honesty, and truthfulness, and they do not steal, cheat, or engage in fraud, subterfuge, or intentional misrepresentation of fact. 4. The principle of justice refers to fairness and equity— that all persons are entitled to access and benefit from the contributions of psychology and equal quality in processes, procedures, and services. © McGraw Hill LLC 9  APA Ethics Code 3 5. The last is the principle of respect for persons: Psychologists respect the dignity and worth of all people, and the rights of individuals to privacy, confidentiality, and self-determination. They are aware that special safeguards may be necessary to protect the rights and welfare of some persons or communities whose vulnerabilities impair autonomous decision making. They are aware of the many differences among people and consider these factors with an eye to eliminating the effect of biases on their work. © McGraw Hill LLC 10  Assessment of Risks and Benefits The principle of beneficence leads us to examine potential risks and benefits of research—to perform a risk-benefit analysis. Risks in psychological research include factors like psychological or physical harm and loss of confidentiality. Benefits may be direct (such as treatment for a psychological problem), material (monetary payment), and other, less tangible benefits such as the satisfaction of contributing to scientific knowledge. © McGraw Hill LLC 11  Risks in Behavioral Research 1. Procedures that could conceivably cause physical harm to participants are rare but possible. 2. More common than physical stress is psychological stress; researchers must exercise safeguards to help participants deal with stress. 3. Confidentiality is an issue when data collected from subjects is identifiable. 4. Privacy refers to the participants’ ability to maintain control of the information they provide and behaviors observed. The Internet has posed other issues of privacy with thousands of people posting messages on websites every day. © McGraw Hill LLC 12  Informed Consent Informed consent is the idea that potential participants in research should be provided with information that might influence their active decision to participate. An informed consent form typically covers: Purpose of the research. Procedures that will be used. Risks and benefits. Any compensation. Confidentiality. Voluntary participation and permission to withdraw. Contact information for questions. © McGraw Hill LLC 13  Figure 1a–b Creating the informed consent form 1 Creating the Form Form is printed in no smaller than 11-point type (no “fine print”). Form is free of technical jargon and written at sixth- to eighth-grade level. Form is not written in the first person (statements such as “I understand...” are discouraged). Contact information is provided for questions about the study (usually phone and email contacts for the researcher, faculty advisor, and the Institutional Review Board office). Description of the Study Explanation of the purposes of the research in clear language. Expected duration of the subject’s participation. Description of the procedures. © McGraw Hill LLC 14  Figure 1c Creating the informed consent form 2 Description of the Risks and Benefits Description of any reasonably foreseeable risks or discomforts and safeguards to minimize the risks. Description of any benefits to the individual or to others that may reasonably be expected from the research. Description of the extent, if any, to which confidentiality or records identifying the individual will be maintained. If applicable, a disclosure of appropriate alternative procedures or courses of treatment, if any, that might be advantageous to the individual. © McGraw Hill LLC 15  Figure 1d Creating the informed consent form 3 Request for Consent Statement that participants are being asked to participate in a research study. Statement that participation is voluntary; refusal to participate will involve no penalty or loss of benefits to which the subject is otherwise entitled, and the subject may discontinue participation at any time without penalty for loss of benefits to which the individual is otherwise entitled. If an incentive is offered, a description of the incentive and requirement to obtain it; also, a description of the impact of a decision to discontinue participation. © McGraw Hill LLC 16  Informed Consent: Autonomy Issues Special populations such as minors, patients in psychiatric hospitals, or adults with cognitive impairments require special precautions. Assent is agreement by a minor in which the written consent form is signed by a parent or guardian. Any procedure that limits an individual’s freedom to consent is potentially coercive. Many institutions have specific guidelines for researchers to use when designing incentives. © McGraw Hill LLC 17  Informed Consent: Withholding Information and Deception 1 Withholding some information from participants is generally acceptable when the research is designated as minimal risk, the information would not affect the decision to participate, and the information will be provided later. Actively misrepresenting information about the nature of a study is deception. Withholding information is sometimes referred to as passive deception. Active deception is actively providing misinformation about the nature of a study. © McGraw Hill LLC 18  Informed Consent: Withholding Information and Deception 2 The type of elaborate deception seen in the Milgram study has become less common. Since Milgram, researchers have become more sensitive to ethical issues when planning their studies. The general level of awareness of ethical issues has led researchers to conduct studies in other ways. Ethics committees now review proposed research more carefully and elaborate deception is less likely to be approved. © McGraw Hill LLC 19  The Importance of Debriefing Debriefing occurs after completion of the study and includes an explanation of the purposes of the research. It is an opportunity for the researcher to deal with issues of withholding information, deception, and potential harmful effects of participation. Debriefing has been found to be an effective way of dealing with ethical issues that arise in research. At least in some circumstances, it must be thorough. Debriefing is part of a researcher’s obligation to treat participants with dignity and respect. © McGraw Hill LLC 20  Institutional Review Boards Any institution that receives federal funds must have an Institutional Review Board (IRB) that is responsible for reviewing research conducted at that institution. It must have a minimum of five members. One must be an external member. Federal agencies that regulate IRBs define research as: 1. Systematic investigation, including research development, testing, and evaluation. 2. Designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge. © McGraw Hill LLC 21  CSUS IRB Decision Tree © McGraw Hill LLC 22  Determining Type of IRB Review 1 Research with human subjects is classified as either minimal risk or greater than minimal risk. If procedures are judged by the IRB as posing greater than minimal risk, a full board review is required. The review can be extensive and time-consuming. Changes in methods may be required. © McGraw Hill LLC 23  Determining Type of IRB Review 2 Minimal risk means the risks of harm to participants is no greater than in daily life or routine tests; such a study qualifies for one of the following: 1. Exempt review: the research is in one of several categories that are exempt from the more rigorous review requirements of federal regulations. 2. Expedited review: the research is not in an exempt category, but the review is less extensive and time- consuming than a full review. 3. Limited review: used with research that includes benign behavioral interventions for which sensitive data are collected from adult participants. © McGraw Hill LLC 24  IRB Decision Tree In order to determine which type of review is required, answer the questions in this decision tree. © McGraw Hill LLC 25  Research with Nonhuman Animal Subjects Animals are used in behavioral research for a variety of reasons and such research continues to be necessary. Strict laws and ethical guidelines govern both research and teaching procedures in which animals are used. An institution’s IACUC (Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee) reviews procedures and ensures all regulations are adhered to. The APA Ethics Code addresses the use of animals and has also developed a more detailed Guidelines for Ethical Conduct in the Care and Use of Nonhuman Animals. © McGraw Hill LLC 26  CSUS Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee © McGraw Hill LLC 27  Being an Ethical Researcher: The Issue of Misrepresentation The ethical researcher does not engage in misrepresentation. In psychology, fraud—the fabrication of data—are considered very serious but is also very rare. Plagiarism—misrepresenting another’s work as your own— may be increasing in prevalence due to the Internet. Word-for-word plagiarism: the writer copies a section of another person’s work word-for-word without providing quotation marks or a citation. Paraphrasing plagiarism: ideas are copied without attribution. © McGraw Hill LLC 28  CSUS Academic Honesty Policy Plagiarism at Sacramento State includes but is not limited to: 1.The act of incorporating into one's own work the ideas, words, sentences, paragraphs, or parts thereof, or the specific substance of another's work without giving appropriate credit thereby representing the product as entirely one's own. Examples include not only word-for-word copying, but also the "mosaic" (i.e., interspersing a few of one's own words while, in essence, copying another's work), the paraphrase (i.e., rewriting another's work while still using the other's fundamental idea or theory); fabrication (i.e., inventing or counterfeiting sources), ghost- writing (i.e., submitting another's work as one's own) and failure to include quotation marks on material that is otherwise acknowledged; and 2.Representing as one's own another's artistic or scholarly works such as musical compositions, computer programs, photographs, paintings, drawing, sculptures, or similar works. © McGraw Hill LLC 29  Citing AI Tools Example citation for ChatGPT When prompted with “Is the left brain right brain divide real or a metaphor?” the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that although the two brain hemispheres are somewhat specialized, “the notation that people can be characterized as ‘left-brained’ or ‘right-brained’ is considered to be an oversimplification and a popular myth” (OpenAI, 2023). Reference OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (Mar 14 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat © McGraw Hill LLC 30  Guide for avoiding plagiarism in writing © McGraw Hill LLC 31  Review Questions 1. Discuss the major ethical issues in behavioral research, including risks, benefits, deception, debriefing, and informed consent. How can researchers weigh the need to conduct research against the need for ethical procedures? 2. Why is informed consent an ethical principle? What are the potential problems with obtaining fully informed consent? 3. What is the difference between “no-risk” and “minimal-risk” research activities? 4. What is an Institutional Review Board? 5. What constitutes fraud, what are some reasons for its occurrence, and why does it not occur more frequently? 6. Describe how you would proceed to identify plagiarism in a writing assignment. © McGraw Hill LLC 32