Ethical Standards and Research Methods in Psychology
Ethical Standards in Psychological Research
Three Ethical Standards
- Informed Consent: Participants must be fully informed about the research.
- Institutional Approval: Research must be approved by an institutional review board (IRB).
- Deception in Research: Use of deception must be justified and followed by debriefing.
- Debriefing: Participants are informed about the true nature of the study afterward.
Seven Characteristics of Science
- Finds general rules
- Collects objective evidence
- Makes testable statements
- Adopts a skeptical attitude about all claims
- Is creative
- Is public
- Is productive
Null Hypothesis
The null hypothesis states that there is no relationship or effect between the variables being studied.
Four Main Approaches to Empirical Research
- Discovery: Identifying new phenomena.
- Demonstration: Showing that a phenomenon occurs under specific conditions.
- Refutation: Disproving existing beliefs or theories.
- Replication: Confirming previous findings.
Psychological Construct
A psychological construct is a tool used to facilitate the understanding of human behavior.
Hypothesis
A hypothesis is a testable statement describing the relationship between two or more variables.
Inductive Reasoning
Inductive reasoning involves moving from specific observations to the development of a hypothesis.
Milgram’s Obedience Study
Why is Milgram’s obedience study now considered unethical?
It involved substantial psychological distress for participants.
Four Major Ways of Knowing
- Authority
- Consensus
- Observation
- Logical analysis
Criteria for a Good Theory
- The extent to which the theory accurately explains and predicts.
- Breadth of information behind the theory.
- Parsimony (simplicity).
Karl Popper’s Theory of Falsification
A theory must be testable and capable of being proven false.
Beneficence
Beneficence is the principle of striving to benefit those with whom researchers work.
Research Idea Generation
Research idea generation relies on the interests and creativity of the researcher. One category is “sensitivity to provocative natural occurrences,” which deals with observing and thinking about unusual behavior.
Major Goal of Psychology
The major goal of psychology is to understand human behavior, particularly cause-and-effect relationships.
Debriefing After Deception
At the end of an experiment that includes deception, researchers should debrief participants.
Ethical Violations in the Tuskegee Syphilis Study
The Tuskegee Syphilis Study did not meet several ethical standards:
- Informed consent
- Protection of participants from adverse consequences
- Offering inducements for research participation
- Deception in research
- Debriefing
Psychology as a Science
- Major goal of psychology: Understand human behavior, particularly cause-and-effect relations.
- Findings of Rind et al. (1998): Performed a meta-analysis of the existing literature and did not find support for the claim that CSA results in substantial negative outcomes in adults.
- Recency and Primacy Effect:
- Recency effect: Recall more of what is most recent.
- Primacy effect: Recall more of what is presented first.
- Advantages of Scientific Research: A scientific approach is systematic and self-correcting.
- Key Features of Psychological Theories: Describing human behavior, making predictions based on evidence, being testable and falsifiable, explaining observed phenomena, providing a framework to understand complex behaviors, and considering internal and external factors influencing behavior.
Inductive and Deductive Approaches
An inductive approach starts with specific observations and patterns to build a new theory, while a deductive approach begins with an existing theory and tests it by collecting data. Inductive reasoning moves from specific to general, while deductive reasoning moves from general to specific.
Ethics in Psychology
- Beneficence and Nonmaleficence: Strive to benefit those with whom they work and take care to do no harm.
- Informed Consent: Includes informing participants about:
- Any prospective research benefits
- Limits of confidentiality
- Incentives for participation
- Whom to contact for questions about the research and research rights
- The purpose of the research, expected duration, and procedures
- Their right to decline to participate, even if research has begun
- The foreseeable consequences of declining or withdrawing
- Reasonably foreseeable factors that may influence their willingness to participate, such as potential risks, discomfort, or adverse effects
- Use of Deception: Psychologists must explain any deception that is an integral feature of the design and conduct of an experiment to participants as early as is feasible and permit participants to withdraw their data.
- Debriefing:
- Provide a prompt opportunity for participants to obtain information about the nature, results, and conclusions of the research.
- Take reasonable steps to correct any misconceptions that participants may have.
Research Hypotheses in Psychology
- Examples of research idea generation category of “sensitivity to provocative natural occurrences”: Why do people like reading depressing books or watching horror movies?
- Examples of research idea generation category of “simple conceptual analysis”: Do more aggressive people watch more violent TV?
- Hypothesizing the Null: It is tempting to hypothesize in some cases, but generally not done. You can’t conclude there is no relationship or effect; you can only say you did not find a relationship or effect.
Textbook
- Introduction Section Characteristics: Should provide a clear rationale for the study.
- Hypothesis Testing Guidelines: Hypotheses should be logical, testable, refutable, and positive.
- Belmont Report: Emphasizes respect for persons, beneficence, and justice. The primary goal is to protect participants in research studies and clinical trials.
- Ethics Pertaining to Plagiarism: Avoid plagiarism by properly citing all sources.