PPA 501 – Research Methods in Administration

1. PPA 501 – Research Methods in Administration Lecture 2b - Ethics

2. Introduction • The nature of research creates a special relationship between researchers and their human subjects. • Researchers require the cooperation of human subjects to conduct investigations. • Subjects rely on researchers to treat them ethically and respectfully.

3. Introduction • Administrative students may believe that administrative or policy research rarely puts a subject at risk. • The risks are more than trivial. • Administrators should be sensitive to issues surrounding research with human subjects and recognize how research participation can cause a subject distress.

4. Illustrative cases • Tuskegee Syphilis Study – informed consent • Jewish Chronic Disease Hospital – informed consent • University of Chicago Law School – loss of secrecy • Laud Humphreys – deceptive research • Stanley Milgram – deceptive research

5. Informed consent • Informed consent is a cornerstone of ethical research. • A subject must be informed of the purpose of the research and the risks that be incurred if she participates. • Guidelines are insufficient. The research must also be subject to a review process.

6. Informed consent • Informed consent not only means that a person consents to participate as a research subject; she must have sufficient information about the possible risks and reasonably expected benefits to decide whether the benefits are worth the risks.

7. Informed consent • What are the risks? • Physical harm, pain or discomfort. • Embarrassment • Loss of privacy • Loss of time • Inconvenience • Undermining confidence in public institutions • Undermining interpersonal trust

8. Informed consent • What are the benefits? • Treatments for physical or psychological problems. • Benefit to valued groups • Interesting subject and minimal risk • Overall, informed consent implies identifying the ratio of risks to benefits.

9. Informed consent • If the subjects are at risk, the researchers must answer three questions • Are the benefits sufficient to justify the risk? • Are the rights and well-being of the subjects adequately protected? • Are the means of getting informed consent adequate and appropriate?

10. Informed consent • What constitutes sufficient information for informed consent? • General purpose of the study • Reasons for selection • Procedures, purposes, and risks, including unknown risks • What will be done with the information

11. Informed consent • Research participation is voluntary. • Some populations are especially at risk • Students • Prisoners • Patients • Children • Aged • Mentally disabled • Voluntary withdrawal

12. Protecting confidentiality • Privacy – individual’s ability to control access of other people to information about herself. • Confidentiality – the protection of information, so that researchers cannot or will not disclose records with individual identifiers. • Anonymity – the collection of information, so that researchers cannot link any piece of data to a specific, named individual.

13. Protecting confidentiality • Research records – records gathered and maintained for the purpose of describing or making generalizations about groups of persons. • Voluntary participation and informed consent are designed to guarantee confidentiality