Psychology Ms. Shirley

Unit 1.4 Research Methods

Ethics

★ Applied Research: Solve practical problems (best method for teaching someone to read)

★ Basic Research: Explores questions that are of interest in psychology, but may not generate immediate, real-world solutions. (studying how people form their attitudes about others in different cultures in terms of intelligence)

What is the goal of psychological research?

What guidelines do psychological experiments use to stay within ethical bounds?

There are hundreds of historical examples of ethically abhorrent research experiments

EthicsHow far can an experiment go for the sake of breaking new ground in psychology?

YouTube: Psychology study leaves Australians in shock

Ethics: What you need to know...

1. Identify how ethical issues inform & constrain research practices. 2. Describe how ethical & legal guidelines protect research participants & promote sound ethical practice.

In 1991, when Tony Lamadrid, a Schizophrenic Patient and Research Subject at UCLA, Committed Suicide. 90% of patients who were untreated lapsed into a period of prolonged mental illness. This essentially proved nothing, except that the medicine they were taking was indeed working!

It Set Off a National Debate:

What Is Acceptable in Human Experimentation & Who Decides?

APA Ethical Guidelines

Any type of academic research would need to be be proposed to the ethics board Institutional Review Board (IRB).

The board ultimately decides & gives researchers permission to do their research.

Animal Research1. Must have a clear scientific

purpose.2. Research must answer a

specific, important scientific question.

3. Animals chosen must be best-suited to answer the question at hand.

4. They must care for the animals in a humane way.

5. They must acquire animal subjects legally. Animals must be purchased from accredited companies. If wild animals must be used, they need to be trapped in a humane manner.

6. They must design experimental procedures that employ the least amount of suffering feasible.

Human ResearchEthical research involving human subjects must meet the following requirements.

1) No coercion2) Informed consent3) Anonymity or confidentiality4) Risk5) Debriefing

"Human behavior is under situational control more than we imagine or want to believe and admit." - Philip Zimbardo

1. No Coercion★ No Coercion: Participants must know that they

are involved in research and give their consent. ★ Limited deception: If the participants are deceived in

any way about the nature of the study, the deception must not be so extreme as to invalidate the informed consent.

★ Participation is voluntary.

2. Informed Consent★ The research the participants thought they were

consenting to must be similar enough to the actual study to give the informed consent meaning.

★ Also, researchers must be very careful about the trauma deception may cause.

3. Anonymity or Confidentiality★ Participants’ privacy must be protected. Their identities and

actions must not be revealed by the researcher. ★ No data matched with person’s name.★ If an ‘interview study’ could not guarantee perfect

anonymity, it should guarantee confidentiality. Researcher will not identify the source of the data.

4. Risk★ Participants cannot be placed at significant mental or physical risk. Typically, it is considered permissible for participants to experience temporary discomfort or stress but activities that might cause someone long-term mental or physical harm must be avoided.

★ This clause requires interpretation by the review board.

★ This consideration was highlighted by Stanley Milgram’s obedience studies in the 1970s in which participants thought they were causing significant harm to other participants (Social Psych chapter).

5. Debriefing

★ After the study, participants should be told the purpose of the study and provided with ways to contact the researchers about the results.

★ When research involves deception, it is particularly important to conduct a thorough debriefing.