Research Ethics
The American Psychological Association Guidelines
Protecting the Welfare of Animal Subjects
Fraud in Science
Plagiarism
Ethical Reports
What are research ethics?
Research ethics are a framework of values
within which we conduct research.
Ethics help researchers identify actions we
consider good and bad, and explain the
principles by which we make responsible
decisions in actual situations.
Research Ethics
What is an Institutional Review Board (IRB)?
Institutional review boards (IRBs), which
are composed of laypeople and researchers,
evaluate research proposals to make sure
that they follow ethical standards.
Research Ethics
What is its purpose?
IRBs protect the safety of research participants.
Their first task is to decide whether a proposed
study increases participants’ risk of injury since
psychological research can cause physical
and/or psychological discomfort.
Research Ethics
What is its purpose?
As researchers, we must accurately estimate
the degree of risk in our research. We typically
do this by reading the literature and consulting
with colleagues.
IRBs will also help researchers estimate the
degree of risk involved in their studies.
Research Ethics
What do "at risk" or at "minimal risk” mean?
Studies that place subjects at risk increase
the chance of harm compared with not
participating in the study.
Minimal risk studies do not increase the
likelihood of injury.
Research Ethics
When should an IRB approve an "at risk" study?
IRBs should approve an “at risk” study when
a risk/benefit analysis determines that risks
to participants are outweighed by gains in
knowledge.
Research Ethics
Which three principles did the Belmont Report
(1979) emphasize?
The Belmont Report proposed three principles:
1. Respect for persons: individuals have
the right of self-determination (basis of
informed consent).
Research Ethics
Which three principles did the Belmont Report
(1979) emphasize?
2. Beneficence: minimize harm and
maximize potential benefits (basis
of risk/benefit analysis).
3. Justice: fairness in both the burdens
and benefits of research.
Research Ethics
What is informed consent?
A subject or guardian agrees in writing to the
subject’s participation after relevant details of
the experiment have been explained.
This description may include risks and benefits,
but does not extend to deception or the
hypothesis.
The APA Guidelines
What is informed consent?
Perhaps the most important principle built into
ethics codes is the right of a participant to refuse
to be in the study or discontinue participation.
Ethical researchers, therefore, cannot coerce
participants to agree to be in the study or
prevent participants from discontinuing the study.
The APA Guidelines
Who is targeted by APA ethical guidelines?
APA ethical guidelines apply to psychologists
and students when they assume the role of
psychologists during research or practice.
The APA Guidelines
Explain APA guidelines on deception.
Deception may be used when it is the best
way to obtain information.
Deception may not be used to minimize the
participants’ perception of risk or exaggerate
their perception of potential benefits.
The APA Guidelines
Which steps must researchers take if deception is
used?
Subjects must be allowed to withdraw from the
experiment at any time and should never face
coercion to remain.
The experimenter should provide debriefing
(full disclosure) after either their personal
participation or the completion of the entire
study.
The APA Guidelines
What does debriefing involve and when is it
required?
Debriefing involves explaining the true nature
and purpose of the experiment.
Debriefing is an essential component of good
experimental research. We must offer our
participants a full explanation of our study any
time that we use deception.
The APA Guidelines
What is a confederate? Why is the use of a
confederate deceptive?
A confederate is an experimenter’s accomplice.
Use of a confederate is deceptive because
subjects are led to believe that the confederate
is another subject, experimenter, or bystander,
when he or she is actually part of the
experimental manipulation.
The APA Guidelines
What is the principle of full disclosure?
Full disclosure means explaining the true
nature and purpose of the study to the subject at
the end of their participation or at the completion
of the entire experiment.
The APA Guidelines
How does debriefing accomplish this?
In debriefing, an experimenter discloses the
true nature and purpose of the study to the
subject and solicits subjects’ questions at the
end of the experiment.
The APA Guidelines
Explain the difference between anonymity and
confidentiality.
Anonymity means that subjects are not
identified by name.
Confidentiality means that data are securely
stored and only used for the purpose explained
to the subject.
The APA Guidelines
How do researchers achieve these goals?
Researchers achieve anonymity by collecting
data without names and assigning code
numbers.
They achieve confidentiality by storing data in
a locked safe and only using the data for the
purposes explained to the participants.
The APA Guidelines
How do psychologists protect the welfare of animal
subjects?
Animal welfare is the humane care and
treatment of animals.
Institutions that conduct animal research must
establish an Institutional Animal Care and
Use Committee (IACUC) to evaluate animal
research before it is conducted.
Protecting the Welfare of Animal Subjects
How do psychologists protect the welfare of animal
subjects?
The IACUC must determine that the researchers
have explored all alternatives and have
documented that there are no other feasible
alternatives.
Protecting the Welfare of Animal Subjects
What does animal rights mean?
Animal rights is the position that sensate
species (those that can feel pain and suffer)
have equal value and rights to humans.
Protecting the Welfare of Animal Subjects
What is scientific fraud? What motivates fraud?
Scientific fraud involves falsifying or fabricating
data.
A researcher’s graduation, tenure, promotion,
funding, or reputation may motivate researchers
to commit fraud.
Fraud in Science
What are the main lines of defense against fraud?
The peer review process filters submitted
manuscripts so that only 15-20% of articles
are printed.
Replication, where researchers attempt to
reproduce the findings of others, is the second
line of defense.
Fraud in Science
What are the main lines of defense against fraud?
Competition by colleagues for scarce
resources, while a cause of fraud, is the
third line of defense.
Fraud in Science
What is plagiarism? Why is it wrong?
Plagiarism is misrepresenting someone’s
“ideas, words, or written work” as your own.
Plagiarism is a form of fraud, in which an
individual claims false credit for another’s ideas,
words, or written work.
Plagiarism
Which ethical issues may be involved in research
reports?
Authorship credit should only be given to those
who made a major contribution to the research
or writing.
Researchers should not take credit for the same
research more than once.
Ethical Reports
Which ethical issues may be involved in research
reports?
The ethical solution is to cite original publications
when republishing data in a journal article or
republishing journal articles in an edited volume.
Ethical Reports