SOC 497 Chap 5

Informed Consent Required:

-Experiments -Qualitative Interviews -Field Research in cases where researcher interacts with participants

Special Populations

-People who may lack the necessary competency to be study participants or people who may feel coerced to participate in a study. -Coercing people to participate, including offering them special benefits that they cannot otherwise attain, is unethical. -Professors sometimes require students in social science courses to participate in research projects. This is a special case of coercion.

*Informed Consent*

-Principle of Voluntary Consent -Informed Consent -Institutional Review Board

Informed Consent Not Required:

-Survey Research -Secondary Data Analysis -Field Research in cases where the researcher only makes observations

Power

-lead researcher -research assistants -research participants Relationships between the lead researcher, assistants, and participants involve power and trust. It is unethical for a person in a position of power to abuse that trust. Ex. taking credit for the work of others, exploiting assistant labor, sexual harassment, not properly protecting the confidentiality of participants, etc.

Feminist Communitarian Ethics Three Principles:

1. Ethical researcher is multi-vocal It recognizes multiple voices, experiences, and perspectives) and incorporates that diversity into the research. 2. Ethical research involves engaging in a dialogue over moral concerns that is phased in terms of the participants' everyday life experiences. Researchers have to engage in and participant in ongoing moral debates within communities. Researchers cannot superimpose their own principles on others. 3. The research process is one that involves both researchers and participants on open and equal terms. This process will unmask power relations between researchers and participants. In the end a collaborative relationship will emerge.

Physical Harm

-today this is rare in biomedical science and very rare in the social sciences. A core ethical principle is that researchers should never cause physical harm to participants. -Researchers must anticipate risks before beginning research: Safety of buildings, research equipment, laboratories, etc. Screen out high risk subjects People with heart conditions, mental illness, seizure disorders, etc.

Special Population :It is unethical to involve incompetent people (ex. children, mentally ill) into research studies unless two criteria are met:

1.A legal guardian grants written permission 2.The researcher follows all ethical principles to prevent harm to participants. EXAMPLE: We want to conduct a survey of smoking, drug, and alcohol use among high school students. If the study is conducted on school property, school officials must give permission. Written parental permission for all students who are minors is also required. It is also best to get consent from each student prior to the study.

Special Population Arguments:

1.It would be difficult and prohibitively expensive to get participants otherwise. 2.The knowledge created from research with students serving as participants will benefit future students and society. 3.Students will learn more about the research process by experiencing it directly in a realistic setting. *Of the three, only the third justifies limited coercion. It is acceptable only as long as it has a clear educational objective, the students are given a choice of research experience, and all other ethical principles are followed.

Researchers can reduce this inequality in three ways:

1.Participants who do not receive the treatment continue to receive the best previous treatment. 2.A cross-over design is used whereby a control group does not receive the treatment during the 1st phase of the study but does receive the treatment in the 2nd phase. 3.After monitoring the results, if it appears early on in the study that the treatment is highly effective, researchers must give the treatment to all patients.

Informed consent statements usually contain the following:

A brief description of the purpose and procedure of the research, including the expected duration of the study. A statement of any risks or discomfort associated with participation. A guarantee of anonymity and the confidentiality of records. The identity and contact information of the researcher and information about where to obtain findings of the study. A statement that participation is voluntary and can be terminated at any time without penalty. A statement of any benefits or compensation provided to participants.

*Institutional Review Board* STUDY EXTRA HARD

A committee at U.S. colleges, hospitals, and research institutes required by federal law to ensure that research involving human subjects is conducted in a responsible and ethical manner. The committee reviews study details before the research begins.

Limits on how to conduct research

Sponsors can legitimately set some conditions on research techniques used (survey, experiment, interviews, etc.) and can limit the costs for research. However researchers must follow generally accepted research methods and give a realistic appraisal of what level of research can be accomplished for a given amount of money.

What are some vulnerable populations that researchers study?

Students Prisoners Homeless Military Personnel Welfare Recipients Children Mentally Disabled Undocumented Immigrants Abuse Victims

Unethical But Legal

The American Sociological Association documented that a 1988 book by a dean from Eastern New Mexico University contained large sections of a 1978 dissertation written by a sociology professor at Tufts University. The copying was not illegal; it did not violate copyright law because the sociologist's dissertation did not have a copyright, however it was unethical according to standards of professional behavior.

Cold War Era Research

The U.S. government periodically compromised ethical research principles for military and political goals. A 1995 report revealed that the government authorized injecting unknowing people with radioactive materials. The U.S. government had warned Eastman Kodak and other film manufacturers about nuclear fallout from atomic tests to prevent fogged film, but it did not provide health warnings to citizens who lived near the test areas.

Anonymity

The ethical protection that participants remain anonymous (nameless); their identity is protected from disclosure.

Deep Cover (Informed)

The researcher does not reveal his/her identity as a researcher and acts like a full participant.

Explicit Cover (Informed)

The researcher fully reveals his or her purpose and asks permission to do the study and receives informed consent from participants.

*Plagiarism* STUDY EXTRA HARD

fraud that involves someone stealing the ideas or writings of another, or using them without citing the source properly.

Unethical Researcher

is caught he/she faces: Public humiliation A ruined career Possible legal action.

*Scientific Misconduct* STUDY EXTRA HARD

when someone engages in research fraud, plagiarism, or other unethical behavior.

Ethics and Individual Research

Ethics begin and end with the researcher. Your personal moral code is the best defense against unethical behavior. Before, during, and after a study the researcher should reflect on his/her actions. The researcher should be consulting his/her conscience throughout the study.

Feminist Communitarian Ethics

Critique that ethical standards don't go far enough: Some researchers who adopt the interpretive or critical social science approaches view most ethical debates, code of ethics, and review boards as inadequate and rooted in positivist assumptions. This goes beyond formal ethical procedures that are based in the utilitarian balancing of costs/benefits and abstract principles of moral good. Aligned with participatory action research, these critics argue that ethics should be aligned with participatory action research and reflect the purpose of research - to empower people.

Informed Content Example

Henrietta Lacks was an African-American woman whose cancer cells are the source of the HeLa cell line, the first immortalized cell line and one of the most important cell lines in medical research. Her cells were used to research: cancer, AIDS, the effects of radiation, polio, tape and glue sensitivity, and countless others. No consent was obtained to culture her cells, nor were she or her family compensated for their extraction or use. Even though some information about the origins of HeLa's immortalized cell lines was known to researchers after 1970, the Lacks family was not made aware of the line's existence until 1975.

Participants Information as Private Property

Data collected by Private Businesses & Government Agencies: Businesses collect, buy, sell, analyze, and exchange information on people everyday. They follow people's buying habits, personal taste, spending patterns, credit ratings, voting patterns, internet surfing, etc. Government agencies also collect data on U.S. citizens and foreigners. However the type of data collected (individual or aggregate) and whether or not a warrant or court oversight is needed to collect the data in all circumstances is currently under debate. Data collected by Ethical Researchers Researchers must act ethically and protect research participants personal information. Prior to the beginning of a study, researchers must let participants know in the informed consent statement how the data collected during the study will be used. Secured data must be kept in a locked file cabinet and/or password protected computer

Whistle Blower

It can be strenuous and risky. The researcher must be convinced that the breach of ethics is serious and approved by the organization. After exhausting internal avenues to deal with the situation, the whistle-blower turns to outside avenues (media, policy makers, etc.) Supervisors or managers may try to discredit or punish anyone who exposes problems and acts disloyal. By acting morally a whistle blower needs to be prepared to make sacrifices- lose a job, be transferred, lose friends and colleagues, incur legal costs.

Other Harms to Participants

Participants could face negative effects on their careers or incomes due to involvement with a study. Example: Assume that a researcher surveys employees and concludes that the supervisor's performance is poor. As a consequence of the researcher's study, the supervisor loses his/her job. Example: A researcher studies people on public assistance and notes that some are babysitting or taking in laundry to make money. Based on the research findings policy makers set on cutting benefits use the study to justify the cuts and the quality of life declines for those on public assistance.

*Informed Consent* STUDY EXTRA HARD

A statement, usually written, that explains aspects of a study to participants and asks for their voluntary agreement to participate before the study begins.

Contract Research

A type of applied research that is sponsored (paid for) by a government agency, foundation, company, etc. that commonly has set limits. The researcher agrees to conduct a study on the sponsor's research question and finish the study by a set deadline. The researcher should refuse to continue work if a sponsor wants biased samples, leading questions, or other unethical methodological practices.

Common Types of Misuse in Evaluation Research

Asking the "wrong" research questions (ex. Yes/No questions when more complex questions are appropriate) and using an inappropriate research design. Requesting an evaluation study after a decision on a program has been made, and using the study to delay or justify a decision that has already been made. Interfering with the research design or data collection process to ensure that it produces desired results. Suppressing or deleting positive results to eliminate a program or suppressing negative results to continue and expand a program.

U.S Syphillis Study in Guatamala

American scientists deliberately infected prisoners and patients in a mental hospital in Guatemala with syphilis to test whether penicillin could prevent infection STDs. The study was hidden and didn't become public until 2010. President Obama apologized personally to Guatemalan President Alvaro Colon and Secretary of State Clinton apologized on behalf of the U.S. to the people of Guatemala.

Principle of Voluntary Consent

An ethical principle that people should never participate in research unless they explicitly and freely agree to participate.

Arriving at particular findings

An ethical researcher refuses to participate in a study if he or she must arrive at specific results. All research should be conducted without restrictions on the findings. Example: A survey organization obtained a contract to conduct research for a shopping mall association. An interviewer in the survey organization objected to many survey questions that he believed were invalid and slanted to favor the shopping mall association. After contacting a newspaper and exposing the biased questions, the interviewer was fired. Several years later in a whistle blower lawsuit, the interviewer was awarded $60,000 in back pay, mental anguish, and punitive damages against the survey organization.

Ethics and the scientific community Nuremburg Code:

An international code of moral, ethical behavior. It was the beginning of codes of ethics for human research. The code was adopted during the Nuremberg Military Tribunal on Nazi war crimes held by the Allied Powers immediately after World War II. The code was developed as a response to the cruelty of concentration camp experiments. The code focused initially on medical experimentation and has become the foundation for ethical codes in social science research.

Legal Harm

As researchers, we are responsible for protecting research participants from increased risk of arrest. If researchers did not protect the confidentiality of research participants who engage in illegal behavior it would destroy trust and no one would be willing to participate in social scientific research. The U.S. Department of Justice provides written waivers (certificates of confidentiality) for researchers studying criminal behavior. A researcher who covertly observes and records illegal behavior and then supplies information to law enforcement authorities violates the ethical standards regarding research participants.

Zimbardo Prison Experiment

IT IS ETHICAL Male students were divided into two role playing groups: guards and prisoners. Before the experiment volunteer students were given personality tests, only those in the normal range were chosen. Volunteers signed up for two weeks and were told that they would be under surveillance and would have some civil rights suspended, but no physical abuse was allowed. In the basement of a Stanford University building, prisoners were de-individualized (dressed in standard uniforms, called only by their number) and guards were militarized (with uniforms, nightsticks, and reflective sunglasses). The volunteers became too caught up in their roles, by Day 6 he called off the experiment for ethical reasons. The risk of permanent psychological harm, and even physical harm was too great.

Humphrey's Tearoom Trade Study

IT IS ETHICAL The researcher conducted a study of male homosexual encounters in public restrooms at rest stops About 100 men were observed engaging in sexual acts, as he pretended to be a lookout. he followed these men back to their cars and recorded their license plate numbers. He then obtained the names/addresses of these individuals. One year later he showed up at their homes posing as a market researcher. He used a deceptive story about a health survey to interview the subjects. He revealed important information about homosexuals and overturned previous false beliefs about them, but he never received their consent. He kept all of their information locked up, but in the wrong hands this information could have been used for blackmail, to end marriages, or for criminal prosecution.

Milgram's Obedience Study

IT IS ETHICAL The researchers were interested in understanding how the horrors of the holocaust under the Nazis could have occurred by examining the strength of social pressure to obey. Participants played the role of "teacher" while a confederate of the researcher was the "pupil." Participants were told by the researcher to give increasingly higher electric shocks to the "pupils" when they gave wrong answers. The researcher (authority figure) urged participants to go on despite the fact that pupils were begging the participants to stop. This study is considered unethical because the research subjects were put through so much psychological stress.

U.S Army LSD Studies

In the 1960's the U.S. government gave unsuspecting soldiers LSD (a hallucinogenic drug), causing serious trauma. LSD and other psychoactive drug experiments were aimed at developing chemical weapons that could incapacitate enemy soldiers.

Suppressing Findings

It is not uncommon for researchers to conduct studies that make the sponsor look bad. Examples: A sociologist conducted a study for the Wisconsin Lottery Commission on the effects of state government-sponsored gambling. After the researcher completed the report the sponsor asked her to remove sections that showed the negative effects of gambling. A social researcher employed by the U.S. Census Bureau studied deaths caused by the 1991 Gulf War against Iraq. The researcher noted that government officials suppressed findings about the number of deaths for political reasons. In the early 1990's U.S. Defense Department ordered the destruction of studies that showed that 10% of the U.S. military was either gay or lesbian. In 2005 the White House threatened the head of the Bureau of Justice Statistics with dismissal and demoted him for releasing law enforcement data on racial profiling.

Examples of unethical and coercive behavior:

It is unethical for a commanding officer to order a soldier to participate in a study. It is unethical for a professor to require a student to be a research subject in order to pass a course. It is unethical for an employer to expect an employee to complete a survey as a condition of continued employment.

Why do researchers act unethically?

Lack of awareness of what is and is not unethical. Pressures to build a career, publish, advance knowledge, and gain prestige. To impress others (colleagues, family, friends, etc.) Because the chances of getting caught are small.

Creating New Inequalities

One type of harm is when one group of people is denied a service or benefit as a result of participation in a study. EXAMPLE There is a new treatment program for subjects with cancer. To learn the effects of the new treatment you provide it to the individuals in the experimental group and give a placebo to those in the control group. Is it ethical for you to deny a potential lifesaving treatment to people who are in the control group?

Code of Ethics

Principles and guidelines developed by professional organizations to guide research practice and clarify the line between ethical and unethical behavior. Social scientists are required to incorporate ethical concerns into research because it is morally and socially responsible. Professional social science associations around the world have codes of ethics that state proper and improper behavior. All researchers may not agree on all ethical issues (which are subject to interpretation) however researchers are expected to uphold certain ethical standards as part of the scientific community. Professional social science associations have committees that review codes of ethics and hear about possible violations but does not strictly enforce codes. If no laws are violated the main penalty is negative publicity which may result in the loss of employment, refusal to publish research in scholarly journals, and inability to get research funding.

Privacy, Anonymity, and Confidentiality

Privacy Survey researchers invade a person's privacy when they probe into beliefs, backgrounds and behaviors in a way that reveals intimate and private details. Experimental research sometimes uses two-way "spy" mirrors to observe behavior. Field researchers have studied people in public places (subway cars, waiting rooms, walking down the street, in parks, classrooms, etc.) Ethical Research and Privacy The ethical researcher only violates privacy to the minimum degree necessary and only for legitimate research purposes. The ethical researcher protects the information on research participants form public disclosure.

Deception

Researchers sometimes deceive or lie to participants in experiments. The only legitimate reason for deception is if the participants knew the true purpose of the study they would modify their behavior, making it impossible to learn of their real behavior. Deception is acceptable only if it has a specific methodological purpose, and even then, we can use it only to the minimal degree necessary. If deception is used, researchers must obtain informed consent from the participants, never misrepresent risks, and always debrief participants after the study.

Basic Principles of Ethical Social Research

Recognize that ethical responsibility rests with the individual researcher. Do not exploit research participants or students for personal gain. Some form of informed consent is highly recommended or required. Honor all guarantees of privacy, confidentiality, and anonymity. Do not coerce or humiliate research participants. Use deception only if needed, and always accompany it with debriefing. Use a research method that is appropriate to the topic. Detect and remove undesirable consequences to research subjects. Anticipate repercussions of the research or publication of results. Identify the sponsor who funded the research. Cooperate with host nations when doing comparative research. Release the details of the study design with the results. Make interpretations of results consistent with the data. Use high methodological standards and strive for accuracy. Do not conduct secret research.

Medical Experiments Conduct by Nazi Researchers

Researchers committed acts of terrible torture in the name of science. People were placed in freezing water to see how long it took them to die, others were purposely starved to death, and children had limbs severed and transplanted onto others. The victims were primarily Jews, prisoners, and Roma (Gypsies).

*Confidentiality* STUDY EXTRA HARD

Researchers may attach names to information, but they hold this information in confidence and keep it secret from the public.

Psychological Abuse, stress, or loss of self-esteem

Researchers may place people in stressful, embarrassing, anxiety-producing, or unpleasant situations. EXAMPLE Researchers expose participants to gruesome photos. Falsely telling male students that they have strong feminine personality traits. Falsely telling students they have failed a test. Create situations of fear (smoke entering a room when the door is locked). Asking participants to harm others. Placing people in situations where they feel social pressure to deny their convictions. Having participants lie, cheat, or steal.

Concealing the True Sponsor

Researchers must balance the ethical value of making the sponsor of a study public with the sponsor's desire for confidentiality. If a researcher publishes findings from a study, there is a clear overriding ethical mandate to reveal the true sponsor. Example: For the past decade Exxon Mobil has been giving funding to think tanks and organizations to study global warming and refute the findings of scientists. In a 2007 House of Representative Science Committee meeting, Representative Brad Miller (D-NC) wrote a letter to Exxon demanding answers. He wrote, "Exxon has the right to fund any research or publications it wishes. However, the Congress and the public have the right to know why ExxonMobil is funding a scientist whose writing is outside his area of expertise to create the impression that expert scientists who have conducted rigorous, peer-reviewed work that says the problems with polar bears are unproven or unserious."

Other Harms To Participants What is the researchers responsibility?

Researchers need to consider the consequences of research for those being studied. Each case must be evaluated individually and the researcher must weigh the potential harm and benefits.

Psychological Abuse, stress, or loss of self-esteem Core Ethical Principles

Researchers should never create unnecessary stress in participants. Unnecessary stress: beyond the minimal amount required to create the desired effect, or stress without a direct, legitimate research purpose. Knowing the minimal amount of stress comes with researcher experience and is also decided upon with oversight from university committees that oversee research with human subjects. Even given precautions, experiments that place research participants in anxiety producing situations often produce discomfort for an ethical researcher.

Covert Observation

The researcher goes "undercover" and does not obtain informed consent. Informed consent is viewed as impractical and disruptive. It places a higher value on doing research than upholding honesty or privacy. Participants may become offended if they learn about an unauthorized invasion of their privacy. Covert research remains controversial and many researchers believe it is unethical. Misrepresentation in field research is analogous to being an undercover agent or informer in non-democratic societies. In 1973 a student was shot at the University of Washington. Students crossing the campus made no attempt to assist the victim. Later it was discovered that many of the bystanders did not help because they thought that the shooting was staged as part of an experiment.

Shallow Cover (Informed)

The researcher reveals that research is taking place but is vague about the details and does not get informed consent from participants.

Ethical Researcher

There are no rewards for being ethical and doing the right thing. Most researchers internalize ethical behavior during professional training. The scientific community's norms of honesty and openness reinforce ethical behavior.

Mandated Protections of Research Participants

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for the Protection From Research Risks In 1981 the office issued regulations on scientific misconduct In 1989 the office expanded the protection of data and confidentiality for human subjects. National Research Act (1974) Established the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects in Biomedical and Behavioral Research. It requires informed consent for most social science research. The legislation assigned responsibility for overseeing research involving human subjects to universities and research institutes. All research institutes, colleges, and universities are required to have IRBs (Institutional Review Boards) that review all research with human subjects. Most surveys, observation of public behavior, and studies of existing data in which individuals cannot be identified are exempt.

Tuskegee Syphillis Study

U.S. Public Health Service sponsored a study on syphilis. The research participants were poor, uneducated, African American men who had syphilis. Even after penicillin was discovered and made available to the public in the 1940's, the men in the study did not receive treatment. Because of this many of the men suffered serious health problems and many died even though there was a readily available cure. In 1997 President Clinton apologized on behalf of the U.S. government to Herman Shaw, one of the surviving victims of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study.

Legal Harm Studies

Van Maanen (1982) field research study on police The researcher rode along with police officers on their beats. The researcher witnessed police brutality and other illegal acts committed by some officers. Despite pressure, he decided to protect the confidentiality of the police officers in the study.

Psychological Abuse, stress, or loss of self-esteem STUDIES

Walster (1965) The researcher wanted to see whether feelings of female self-worth affected romantic liking. She gave undergraduate women personality tests followed by phony feedback. She told some women that they lacked imagination and creativity and told others that they had these qualities. Next a handsome male graduate student who pretended to be another research participant struck up a conversation with the women. The research subjects who were critiqued (low self-esteem group) showed more interest in the male graduate student than the research subjects who were in the non critiqued group (high self-esteem). Although the participants were debriefed, they suffered a loss of self-esteem and possible psychological harm.

Special types of plagiarism

When a person steals the work of another researcher, research assistant, or student and misrepresents it as one's own research.

Research Fraud

a type of unethical behavior in which the researcher fakes or invents data that were not really collected and falsely reports how the research was conducted.