3. Ethics in Research

1. 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?

2. Why we have to consider the ethics? Example. Medical Experiments Conducted on prisoners by the Nazis. Example. Medical Experiments Conducted on prisoners by the Japanese Military (WW2)

3. 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

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. Example 1. Milgram (1963, 1974) The “Obedience Experiment” Participants were asked to give “the victim” electric shocks.

7. Example 2. Haney, Banks, Zimbardo (1973) The “Stanford Prison Study” Participants played a role either prisoners or guards.

8. 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

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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”. Deception 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

12. 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

13. 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.

14. 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

15. 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..

16. 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.

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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 .

20. 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 Consider the time your experiment requires. Will your participants get tired? Do you have a consent form? Yes Do you have a debriefing sheet? Do you submit the research proposal to IRB?

21. 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?