The Basics of Social Research 6th Edition by Earl Babbie

Exercise 1

Consider the following real and hypothetical research situations. What is the ethical component in each example? How do you feel about it? Do you think the procedures described are ultimately acceptable or unacceptable? You might find it useful to discuss some of these situations with classmates.
a. A psychology instructor asks students in an in troductory psychology class to complete questionnaires that the instructor will analyze and use in preparing a journal article for publication.
b. After a field study of deviant behavior during a riot, law enforcement officials demand that the researcher identify those people who were observed looting. Rather than risk arrest as an accomplice after the fact, the researcher complies.
c. After completing the final draft of a book reporting a research project, the researcher-author discovers that 25 of the 2,000 survey interviews were falsified by interviewers. To protect the bulk of the research, the author leaves out this information and publishes the book.
d. Researchers obtain a list of right-wing radicals they wish to study. They contact the radicals with the explanation that each has been selected "at random" from among the general population to take a sampling of "public opinion."
e. A college instructor, who wants to test the effect of unfair berating, administers an hour exam to both sections of a specific course. The overall performance of the two sections is essentially the same. The grades of one section are artificially lowered, however, and the instructor berates the students for performing so badly. The instructor then administers the same final exam to both sections and discovers that the performance of the unfairly berated section is worse. The hypothesis is confirmed, and the research report is published.
f. In a study of sexual behavior, the investigator wants to overcome subjects' reluctance to report what they might regard as shameful behavior. To get past their reluctance, subjects are asked, "Everyone masturbates now and then; about how much do you masturbate?"
g. A researcher studying dorm life on campus discovers that 60 percent of the residents regularly violate restrictions on alcohol consumption. Publication of this finding would probably create a furor in the campus community. Because no extensive analysis of alcohol use is planned, the researcher decides to keep this finding quiet.
h. To test the extent to which people may try to save face by expressing attitudes on matters they are wholly uninformed about, the researcher asks for subjects' attitudes regarding a fictitious issue.
i. A research questionnaire is circulated among students as part of their university registration packet. Although students are not told they must complete the questionnaire, the hope is that they will believe they must-thus ensuring a higher completion rate.
j. A researcher pretends to join a radical political group in order to study it and is successfully accepted as a member of the inner planning circle. What should the researcher do if the group makes plans for the following?
(1) A peaceful, though illegal, demonstration
(2) The bombing of a public building during a time it is sure to be unoccupied
(3) The assassination of a public official