General Ethical Principles

● Respect
● Beneficence: do good; not cause harm
● Justice: everyone is treated fairly

Five general moral principles

● Beneficence and nonmaleficence
○ Goal of research studies - minimum harm and maximum benefit
○ IRB has definite role in implementing this principle
■ Exempt studies
● No known physical, emotional, psychological, or economic harm
to the participants
● Do not require IRB review
● Studies involving prisoners and children cannot be exempt
■ Expedited review
● Rapidly reviewed by a few IRB members
● No more than minimal risk
■ Full board review
● More than minimal risk
● Fidelity and responsibility
● Refers to the way psychologists interact with others informed consent
○ Establishing a trusting relationship with research participants
● Integrity
● Psychologists strive to be honest, accurate, and truthful in teaching, research,
and all professional activities
● Use of deception or failing to maintain confidentiality may violate trust
● Justice
● Asks the question - who should receive the benefits of the research and who
should bear its burden?

Responsibility for Ethical Research

The Researcher

The IRB
● Membership (5 people minimum)
○ Diverse background (as many possible research areas covered in the institution)
○ At least 1 is a scientist
○ One person outside the institution (non-affiliated); from the community
■ Religious leader (esp. because of ethical and moral conduct)
● Criteria for approving research
● Review procedures
Deciding if the benefit of the research is greater than the cost to the participants
● Cost/benefit ratio
● Primary consideration should always be the welfare of the participant

The current recommendation is to present research to the Institutional Review Board

(IRB) for review of cost/benefit ratio
● Exists at all institutions that receive federal funding
● Only reviews research involving human participants

Criteria for Approval of Research by IRBs

● Risks to participants is minimized

● Risks to participants are reasonable in relation to anticipated benefits to participants and
the importance of the knowledge that can reasonably be expected from the research
● Selection of participants is equitable in that members of some populations, such as
minority groups, do not bear an inordinate proportion of the risks of the research or
receive an inordinately small proportion of expected benefits
○ Any person in our society has a chance of being selected
● Each participant gives informed consent to participate in the research
● Informed consent is appropriately documented
○ Sign consent form (like a contract)
■ Signed by both participant and researcher
● The research plan makes adequate provision for monitoring data collection to ensure the
safety of participants
○ Data will remain private and anonymous
● There are adequate provisions to protect the privacy of participants and to maintain the
confidentiality of data
● When some or all of the participants are likely to be vulnerable to coercion or undue
influence, safeguards have been included in the study to protect the rights and welfare of
the participants
○ Using appropriate language that can be understood
○ For children, parent/legal guardian needs to provide informed consent

Ethical Considerations While Planning Research

Risk of Harm or Deprivation

● Categories of risk
○ Inconvenience
○ Physical
○ Psychological
○ Social
 ○ Economic
○ Legal
● Evaluating risk
● Deprivation as risk
● Benefits of research
● Risk-benefit analysis

Cost/Benefit Ratio

● High cost & low benefit = not approved

● Low cost & high benefit = approved
● High cost & high benefit = difficult decision
● Low cost & low benefit = difficult decision

Examples of exempt research include:

● Research involving normal educational practices
● Research involving the use of educational tests, surveys, interviews, and observation of
public behavior as long as no data that identify individual participants’ responses would
not put them at risk
● Research involving the use of existing data, such as from data archives
● Taste tests of food as long as the food does not include additives or include only
additives approved by the Food and Drug Administration

Voluntary Participation

● Overt coercion
● Subtle coercion
● Excessive inducements
○ Monetary payment
○ Class credit/extra credit

Informed Consent

● Elements of informed consent

○ Research and purpose
○ Risk
○ Benefits
○ Alternative treatment
○ Confidentiality of records
○ Compensation
 ○ Contact information
○ Voluntary
● Public behavior
● Competence to give consent
● Readability of consent forms

Informed consent
● Minors
○ Who is considered a minor may vary by state
■ E.g., in Alabama, minors are less than 19 years old
○ Permission must also be obtained by legally authorized person
○ Must be given appropriate explanation of the study and give assent (agreement
to participate)
○ APA specifies assent may be possible starting around age 9 and most of the time
can be obtained starting at age 14
● Passive vs. Active consent
○ Active consent: verbal agreement and signing consent form agreeing to
participate
○ Passive consent: giving consent by not returning consent form
■ Most often used in research with minors
■ Parents only sign and return consent form when declining participation
■ Not consistent with APA standards

Deception

● Why researchers use deception

● Ethical objections to deception
● Alternatives to deception
● Minimizing harm in deception research
● How harmful is deception research?

Ethical Obligations During Data Collection

Avoidance of Harm
● Screening for risk factors
○ Health conditions
● Unanticipated harmful effects
● Discovering psychological problems

Withdrawal of consent
Ethical Considerations Following Data Collection

● Alleviating adverse effects

Debriefing

● Components of debriefing
● Effective debriefing
● Can debriefing be harmful?

Compensation of Control Groups

● If treatment group is receiving benefits, so does the control group

Confidentiality of Data

● Protecting confidentiality
○ Make it anonymous
○ Use code
○ Sign disclosure that you won’t release participant data
● Data confidentiality and the Law

Animal Research

Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC)

The Animal Welfare Act (1966)

● Enforced by the Department of Agriculture
● Requires institutions with animal research to have IACUC

APA Ethics Code Standard 8.09

● Humane care and use of animals in research
○ Justification of the research
○ Personnel
○ Care and housing of animals
○ Acquisition of animals
○ Experimental procedures
○ Field research
○ Educational use of animals
Distinction between animal welfare and animal rights
● Animal welfare involve improving lab conditions and reducing the number of animals use
● Animal rights is the belief that nonhuman animals have similar rights to humans
● APA guidelines deal with animal welfare

Mistakes and Errors in Research

Consequences of Error
● Harm to research participants
● Harm to science
● Harm to the public

Sources of Culpable Error

● Incompetence
○ E.g., not trained properly
● Negligence
● Use of data

Correcting Mistakes and Errors

● Reprint acknowledging error
● Retraction

Using Results of Research

The application of research results

● Exploitation
● Wasting resources
● Overgeneralization
● Failure to apply results of research

Influencing Decision Makers

● The social mentor
● The social activist
● Limits of behavioral science knowledge
● Expert witness

Researchers’ responsibilities
● Conducting research
● Reporting the results of research
● Social mentoring and social activism
● Monitoring the use of scientific knowledge
 ● Encouraging the use of scientific knowledge

Research and the Common Good

● Is applied research more ethical than basic research?

● Should research on some topics be banned or restricted?
● Is there an ethical obligation to conduct research?