3. Ethics in Research
 What are some of the concern guiding ethical research?
 What are the potential psychological threat to participants in
behavioral science research projects?
 What factors may interfere with participants’ freedom to choose
when or not to participate in research?
 What is the function of informed consent?
 How might a researcher abuse his or her power in the research
relationships?
 When and why is deception used in research?
Why we have to consider the ethics?
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Example. Medical Experiments
Conducted on prisoners by the
Nazis.
Example. Medical Experiments
Conducted on prisoners by the
Japanese Military (WW2)
What is Ethical Research?
1.Protecting participants from physical and psychological
harm.
2. Providing freedom of choice about participating in
the research.
3. Maintaining awareness of the power differentials between
researcher and participant
4. Providing informed consent, and honestly describe the nature
of the research to participants
When you want to run a experiment at UM,
using Psych 111 Subject Pool.
1. Attend the experimenter meeting held by the Psychology
Undergraduate Office, and register your name on the
experimenter list.
2. Submit your research proposal to the Institutional Review
Board (IRB), with a consent form sheet and a debriefing
sheet that you are supposed to provide to participants at the
end of the experiment.
Protecting Research Participants from
Physical and Psychological Harm
 Types of Threats
1. Some research directly create stressful situation.
2. Some research leads the participants to discover
something unpleasant about themselves.
 The Potential for Lasting Impact
1. There is no guarantee that participants will not
suffer lasting consequences as a result of the
experimental procedures.
2. The harmful psychological outcome may not be apparent
immediately, but occurs only later.
Example 1. Milgram (1963, 1974)
The “Obedience Experiment”
Participants were asked to give “the victim”
electric shocks.
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Example 2. Haney, Banks, Zimbardo
(1973) The “Stanford Prison Study”
Participants played a role either prisoners or guards.
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 Providing freedom of choice
In some setting, it is very difficult to fully provide participants
freedom of choice. (e.g. Observational Study, Social Instututions)
In experimental setting at UM, the instructor must provide
A Informed Consent Form before the experiment.
Informed Consent Form
Ths contains a clear description of the research. In addition, it gave
the name of investigators, the title of the research project. Finally,
there is a blank line which the participants to indicate they agree
to take part.
See the IRB criteria of consent form and the sample
 Maintaining Awareness of Power Differentials
What you need to be aware of is the fact that the researcher
(or experimenter) has power over the participant.
In the experimental session, don’t abuse your power.
• Don’t show up late without apology.
• Don’t promise participants money that is not available.
• Don’t attempt to learn intimate detail about the participants.
When you analyze (report) the data, respect participants’ privacy.
• Keep the data confidential (use unique code).
• Keep the data anonymous.
• Use fictitious names of persons in the research reports.
 Honestly Describing the nature and use of the research
Deception occurs whenever research
participants are not completely and fully
informed about the nature of the research
project before participating in it.
Example 1. Asch (1952, 1965)
To measure participant’s conformity, six confederates made
wrong answers intentionally.
Example 3. Cohen, Nisbett, Bowdle, and Schwarz (1996)
To measure the reaction of insult, a confederate bumped into
the unsuspecting subject as he worked down a hallway and
called him an “asshole”.
Example 2. Heine & Kitayama (2000)
To observe participants’ natural motivation toward a task, they
videotaped the participants’ behavior using hidden camera.
Example 4. Masuda & Nisbett (unpublished)
They eliminate the title of the research which would have indicated that it
concerns differences between Japan and the US. As a result the participants
were unaware that their responses would be compared with those made by
individuals in the other culture
Why Deception is Necessary?
1. It is needed to get participants to act naturally.
Example. Altruism, Aggression, Cultural Study, Stereotype
2. It is needed to get participants to not worry about
the artificial procedure.
Example. cover story
3. Not to hurt their feelings
Is there any good way to avoid deception?
Simulation Studies
Participants are fully informed about the nature of the
research and asked to behave “as if” they were in a
social setting of interest.
Example. Haney, Banks, & Zinbardo (1973)
The Stanford Prison Study.
When do the participants fully understand the research?
Debriefing Sheet
It is designed to explain the purposes and procedures of research
and remove any harmful aftereffects of participation.
When you use Psych 111 subject pool, the instructor needs to
provide the debriefing sheet immediately after the research has
ended.
Example. The debriefing sheet meets IRB criteria
Post-Experimental Interview
The participants’ reactions to the research are assessed.
1. Participants are asked to express their thought about
the research.
2. When the research uses deception, the participants will be
given a suspicion check -questions about the extent
to which they believe the experimental manipulation was
real..
Process Debriefing
An active attempt to undo any changes that might have
occur in the participants.
Example: Provide some process to let participants to
regain positive mood.
Using Animals as Research Participants
Animal-rights activists believe that it is ethically wrong to conduct
research on animals.
But many researcher accept the value of such research (Plous, 1996)
See Stangor Ch.3 Table 3.3
Ensuring that Research is Ethical
The Institutional Review Board (IRB)
The IRB consists of at least five members, including, in addition
to scientists, at least one individual whose primary interest is in
nonscientific domains (e.g. a community member, a religious
reader, or a legal specialist).
All federally funded research, and almost all university research
That is not federally funded must be approval by the IRB.
See IRB form
The Researcher’s Own Ethics
The ultimate responsibility lies with the investigator!
It’s you who make decision about the ethics of research.
It’s up to you who judge what is wrong and what is right.
Consider carefully the costs and benefits of conducting
or not conducting current research!
Try to take participants’ point of view!
Let’s conduct research that is interesting and fun both for the
participants and for the investigator .
How do you conduct an experiment?
Do you think your experiment is
important to conduct?
Yes
Do you use human participants?
Yes
Try to avoid using deception.
Do you still need to use deception?
Yes
Try to avoid causing unnecessary stress
to the participants. Is the research fun?
Yes
Do you have a consent form?
Consider the time your experiment requires.
Will your participants get tired?
Yes
Do you have a debriefing sheet?
Do you submit the research proposal to IRB?
Do you check the name of the participant?
Yes
Do you provide a consent form?
Yes
Are you polite to the participant during the session
Yes
Do you provide a debriefing sheet?
Yes
Do you also interview the participants to find out their
impression towards the experiment?
Yes
Do you think you succeeded in removing the participants
stress and bad mood?