Deck 3: A: Ethics: Making Ethical Decisions in Research

Question 1

As put forth in the textbook,"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Demonstrate your understanding of past events by naming two examples of studies that violated participants' rights.Also,illustrate how today's ethical standards ensure that psychological research will not repeat these violations in the future.

Answer 1

The Tuskegee Syphilis Study is an example of an unethical research study in which medical researchers failed to tell participants that they had the syphilis infection.Moreover,when penicillin became available,these researchers failed to administer the medication,causing participants to suffer needlessly from their ailment.Other research studies that violated ethical standards were those conducted in prison camps during World War II.As a result of these (and other)unethical research studies,both the Nuremberg Code for Human Experimentation and the Belmont Report were created to spell out ethical principles for working with humans.Further,the American Psychological Association has offered a set of five guidelines designed to uphold ethical treatment of humans.Finally,all research must be approved by an Institutional Review Board prior to administration to ensure that potential benefits outweigh the costs and that studies adhere to the mandated guidelines.

Question 2

Compare and contrast the three ethical principles put forth in the Belmont Report.

Answer 2

The ethical principles included in the Belmont Report are beneficence,justice,and respect.Beneficence means actively promoting the welfare of others.It requires researchers to maximize the benefits of a research study.Benefits include those to society,the field of psychology,and the participants involved in a particular research study.Justice pertains to fairness in selecting study participants,as well as determining who will receive the benefits of participation and who will bear the burden of risks.Researchers aim to equitably distribute both costs and benefits of their research efforts.Respect for persons ensures that the decision to participate in a research study is made freely and with all of the necessary information.Researchers much ensure autonomy,which is the idea that people are capable of making deliberate,informed decisions about their participation in research.Each of these three principles shares the goal of upholding ethical standards in studies of humans.Each is different in focus,clarifying specific principles for different steps in the research process.

Question 3

Explain why a researcher may not be a good judge of the costs and benefits of his/her own research study.

Answer 3

Researchers are passionate about and committed to their own research programs.Accordingly,it is possible that their subjective feelings may cause them to lose sight of objective standards for their research.Much like the researchers responsible for the Tuskegee Syphilis Study,scientists may think their efforts are serving the greater good,when in fact they are doing a disservice to their participants.In an effort to ensure objective consideration of both the severity of potential costs and the utility of potential benefits associated with research studies,the federal government has mandated that all research must be approved by an Institutional Review Board (IRB).This group of individuals should be less biased when weighing costs and benefits than the researcher,as they are not part of the research program and are able to take a more comprehensive and objective view at the proposed work.

Question 4

List data analysis and reporting practices that researchers should avoid in hopes of maintaining (rather than undermining)scientific integrity.

Question 5

Which of the five ethical guidelines put forth by the American Psychological Association do you think is the most important? Why?