Finish up APA style
Ethics
Psych 231: Research
Methods in Psychology
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Quiz 4: Due Fri. Sept. 11 (by midnight)
Exam 1: on Monday
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Mixture of multiple choice and short answer
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University college writing help:
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http://www.ucollege.ilstu.edu/tutoring/writing/
Online CITI ethics training due week 5
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http://psychology.illinoisstate.edu/jccutti/psych231/f15/fall2015ethics.html
Announcements
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The basic parts of a research article:
• Abstract
• Body
• Introduction
• Methods
• Participants
• Materials/Apparatus
• Design
• Procedure
• Results
• Discussion
• References
• The rest
• Authors Notes, Footnotes, Tables,
Figures & Captions
APA style: Parts of a research report
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The basic parts of a research article:
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Results (state the results but don’t interpret them
here)
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Verbal statement of results
Tables and figures
• These get referred to in the text, but actually get put into their
own sections at the end of the manuscript
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Statistical Outcomes
• Means, standard deviations, t-tests, ANOVAs, correlations, etc.
Body
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The basic parts of a research article:
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Results (state the results but don’t interpret them
here)
 Reading checklist
1) Did the author get unexpected results?
2 a) How does the author interpret the results?
b) How would YOU interpret the results?
c) What implications would YOU draw from these results?
• Writing checklist
• Is it clear how the hypotheses are tested by the analyses?
• Would a graph or table help clarify the results?
• What questions might the reader still have, and how could
I answer them in this section?
Body
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Discussion (interpreting the results)
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Relationship between purpose and results
Theoretical (or methodological) contribution
Implications
Future directions (optional)
 Reading checklist
• Does YOUR interpretation or the authors' interpretation best
represent the data?
• Do you or the author draw the most sensible implications and
conclusions?
• Writing checklist
• Have you stated your most convincing argument?
• Do the conclusions follow straightforwardly from the results?
Body
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References
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Author’s name
Year
Title of work
Publication information
• Journal
• Issue
• Pages
Adolescent Depression 29
References
Barnett, P. A., & Gotlib, I. H. (1988). Psychosocial
functioning and depression: Distinguishing among
antecedents, concomitants, and consequences.
Psychological Bulletin, 104.
Beck, A. T. (1978). Beck Depression Inventory.
San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation.
Benoit, D., Vidovic, D., & Roman, J. (1991, April).
Transmission of attachment across three generations.
Paper presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society
for Research in Child Development.
Benoit, D., Zeanah, C. H., & Barton, M. L. (1989).
Maternal attachment disturbances in failure to thrive.
Infant Mental Health Journal, 3, 185-202.
Benoit, D., Zeanah, C. H., Boucher, C., & Minde, K.
(1989). Sleep disorders in early childhood: Association
with insecure maternal attachment. Journal of the
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry,
31, 86-93.
When something odd comes up, don’t
guess. Look it up!
The references
Ethics – people should be treated as ends not means
Ethics
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Two basic categories of ethical concerns:
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Need to consider the rights of our participants in our
research
Need to behave ethically as scientists and
practitioners
Ethical Responsibilities in Research
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Two basic categories of ethical concerns:
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Need to consider the rights of our participants in our
research
Need to behave ethically as scientists and
practitioners
Ethical Responsibilities in Research
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For the most part the researcher has the power
• You know what is going to be
done to the participants
• Participants may feel like
they have to do it
• Consider the Milgram (1963)
study
• demonstrated how far people
may go to obey authorities
• This study itself exemplifies
the need for strict rules of
ethics
Using humans in research
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Consider ethics at each step
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Does the topic/idea for the research have some ethical issues
surrounding it?
How are participants selected?
What methods may be used on the participant population?
What measurement techniques will be used?
What design is appropriate?
How are the data analyzed?
How are the results reported?
Ethical Responsibilities in Research
APA’s code of ethics
http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.aspx
5 General Principles (& many ethical standards)
A.Beneficence
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Protection from harm, Cost/Benefits analysis, Confidentiality
B.Fidelity
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& Non-maleficence
& Responsibility
Uphold professional and scientific standards of contact
C.Integrity
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Honesty and accuracy in science
D.Justice
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Freedom from coercion
E.Respect
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for people’s rights and dignity
Basic courtesy, Informed consent, Debriefing, Avoid
deception
APA’s code of ethics
http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.aspx
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Information to allow a person to decide if they want to
participate (sample in lab manual pgs 26-27)
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Basic purpose of the study
Participation is voluntary
Risks involved
Benefits involved
Rights to refuse or terminate participation
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Assent - guardians if participants are not competent
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• e.g., children, developmentally disabled people
Informed consent
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Types
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Passive deception
• Withholding information about the study
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Active deception
• Deliberately misleading participants
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Avoid it when possible
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Consider alternatives to deception
• Role-playing
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When not possible to avoid
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Make sure that you are up front with all possible risks
Potential results must be worth it
Must debrief participants as soon as possible (either right after
participation or as soon as project is over)
Using deception in research
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Costs: all potential risks to the participants
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Physical harm
Psychological harm
Loss of confidentiality
Benefits: the “good” outcomes
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Direct benefits to participants
Benefits to knowledge base
Benefits to world at large
Costs/Benefits analysis
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Institutional Review Board
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IRB Criteria
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Minimize risk
Benefits > Risks
Equal opportunity sampling
Informed consent
Documentation of consent
Data monitoring
Privacy & Confidentiality
Monitoring of ethics
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Two basic categories of ethical concerns:
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Need to consider the rights of our participants in our
research
Need to behave ethically as scientists and
practitioners (Integrity, Fidelity & Responsibility)
Fraud prevention
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Replication – repeat a research study to validate results
Peer Review – critical analysis of research by peers in the
same area
Plagiarism – taking credit for another’s work or ideas
• Avoided by citing the ideas or words of others
Scientific Integrity
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Ethics in Science Quiz
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Dirty tricks (this will get you thrown out)
Questionable tricks (these are a little
fuzzier, but be wary)
Neat tricks (accepted as okay, and
sometimes necessary)
Ethical responsibility to science
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Ethics in Science Quiz
DT 
QT 
NT 
DT 
DT 
QT 
DT 
QT 
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Dirty tricks
Questionable
tricks
Neat tricks
Fabrication of results
Little or no attempt to minimize demand biases
Reformulating your theory as you go
Falsifying credentials
Plagiarism
Little or no attempt to minimize confounds
Deliberately hiding (significant) errors in published work
Little or no attempt to minimize demand characteristics
Ethical responsibility to science
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Ethics in Science Quiz
QT or
DT
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NT 
QT 
QT 
DT 
QT 
NT 
Dirty tricks
Questionable
tricks
Neat tricks
Throwing out data
depends reason for throwing out
Reorganizing order of report of experiments
Violations of underlying statistical assumptions
Strategic graphing of the data
Duplicate publications (presented as new)
Selective reporting of the results
Leaving out some bad experiments (not bad results)
Ethical responsibility to science
Exam 1: 10% of final grade
 Short answer & multiple choice
 Covers – lectures, textbook, lab material
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Textbook Chapters 1, 2, 3, 5, 8
Exam 1