Agenda Objective : To understand the ethical obligations of researchers with human subjects

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AgendaObjective:1. To understand the ethical

obligations of researchers with human subjects.

2. To understand the questionable history of human subjects research.

Schedule: 1. Intro to research ethics2. History of research ethics3. What are current research

ethics4. Famous cases of ethical

controversy5. IRB

Research Ethics Homework1. Social

Theory Paper Due Tuesday March 6

2. Midterm Exam Friday March 30

Sociology and Research Ethics• Sociologists conduct research

on human beings.• Whether a study uses

interviews, participant observation, surveys, or existing statistics to gather data this data always comes from human beings.

• As a result, moral/ethical issues must be considered when designing a study and collecting data.



Research Ethics• Ethics: Behaving in accordance

with accepted standards of right and wrong.

• Research ethics: Application of ethics to the design, implementation, and reporting of research.



Research Ethics• Research ethics involves a

balance between two values:– The pursuit of scientific

knowledge and the rights of those being studied

• Potential benefits such as advancing of our understanding of social life, improving decision making, or helping research participants must be weighed against potential costs to the study participants.



The Origins of Research Ethics

• Concern over the treatment of research subjects arouse after the revelation of gross violations of basic human rights in the name of science.

• The most prominent examples include…

Nazi Medical Experiments• During World War Two the Nazis

conducted a series of perverse medical experiments on imprisoned and interned Jews.

• For example, people were placed in freezing water to see how long it took them to die, people were purposely starved to death, and limbs were severed from children and transplanted onto other individuals.



Tuskegee Syphilis Study• From 1932 until 1972 The United States Public Health Service conducted a clinical study in which they recruited 399 impoverished African-American men with syphilis to research how the disease progressed.• By 1947 penicillin was accepted as an effective cure for the disease

yet researchers failed to treat patients, withheld all information about penicillin treatment from patients and prevented them from participating in any treatments for venereal disease, and continued the study for another 25 years.

• Victims of the study included not only numerous men who died of syphilis, but also their wives who contracted the disease, and children born with congenital syphilis.



Project MK-ULTRA• This CIA human research program began in the early 1950s and continued at least through the late 1960s. It sought to examine methods of influencing and controlling the human mind in order to enhance the CIA’s ability to extract information from resistant subjects during interrogation.• Often without their knowledge were given a range of mind-altering

substances including LSD (which was used as an experimental drug in these trials before it was used recreationally) which caused serious physical and mental trauma and in some instances permanent damage to participants.– Some subjects’ participation was consensual and in these cases participants

were singled out for even more extreme experiments. In one case, volunteers were given LSD for 77 straight days.

– Ken Kesey, author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, was a voluntary participant in these trials while a student at Stanford.



Types of Unethical Research

• There are four main types of unethical research:1. Research that causes harm to

participants2. Research that is deceitful 3. Nonconsensual research 4. Research that does not protect

subjects’ privacy

Research That Causes Harm• Research should never harm a

participant.• This harm can include:

–Physical harm •Injury•Illness•Death

–Psychological abuse •Stress•Embarrassment•Anxiety•Loss of Dignity/Self-Esteem

–Legal Harm•Risk of arrest•Engagement in illegal activities•Turning over data, notes, or interviews on subject to lead to their arrest (?)



Research that is Deceitful• Participants should never be lied

to.• Research should never be covert

or hidden from the participant.• Participants should never be

tricked into agree to participate in a study.



Nonconsensual Research• The people who participate in social research

should explicitly agree to participate.• It is not enough to get permission from subjects;

they need to know what they are being asked to participate in so that they can make an informed decision.

• They must sign and read a statement giving informed consent.• Signed informed consent statements are optional for most survey, field, and secondary data research.



Research that Does Not Protect Subjects’ Privacy

• Researchers must be sure to maintain a participant’s privacy, anonymity, and confidentiality at all times.

• For the most part studies should not:– Use names and other identifying details of participants. They should be changed to protect privacy.– Release private information to the public or to other individuals or organizations.



Three Famous Cases of Ethical Controversy

• Laud Humphrey’s Tearoom Trade (1970)

• Stanley Milgram’s “obedience study” (1963)

• Philip Zimbardo’s “prison experiment” (1973)

Tearoom Trade Discussion• Reactions?• What ethical concerns are present

in the study?• Do you think Humphreys’ study

was unethical?• What ethical research design could

Humphreys have employed to answer his research question?

Stanley Milgram’s “Obedience Study”

• Milgram attempted to discover how the horrors of the Holocaust under the Nazis could have occurred by examining the strength of social pressure to obey authority.

• The experiment, however, unleashed a wave of ethical concerns.

• Watch and see…

Milgram Discussion• Reactions?• What was the purpose of the study?

What was Milgram trying to do?• What ethical concerns are present

in the study?• Was reproducing the study

unethical?

Philip Zimbardo’s “Prison Experiment”

• Zimbardo’s study set out to understand the social interactions that take place between guards and prisoners in prisons.

• To explore this he created a simulated prison in which young male volunteers were randomly placed as guards or prisoners to see how they interacted.

• Volunteers were paid $15/day for 2 weeks of participation.

• They were told they would have some of their basic civil rights suspended but that physical abuse was explicitly prohibited.

• Watch and see what happened…

Zimbardo’s Study• Reactions?• What was unethical about this study?• Why was this study unethical?

– Was it something in the study’s design?– Was it an unintended (unforeseen) effect?

• Was Zimbardo’s behavior during the study unethical? Why?

• Do you think that today Zimbardo believes the study was unethical?

Mandated Protection of Subjects

• Today, the United States federal government has regulations and laws to protect research subjects and their rights.

• Under these laws the responsibility for safeguarding ethical standards is assigned to research institutes and universities.

• Any person doing research on a human subject must submit a proposal and all supporting documents for their

research study to an institutional review board (IRB) which will determine if the research conforms to the standards laid out in federal law. • See Sample IRB Form! QuickTime™ and a

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Applying your Understanding of Research Ethics• Imagine you are interested in studying

underage teenagers’ drinking and driving behaviors. What are some of the ethical considerations you would have to keep in mind? Discuss some of the ethical dilemmas you would encounter. How would you structure your research project (bearing in mind the centrality of ethics in the structuring of your research process)?

Documents

Agenda Objective : To understand the ethical obligations of researchers with human subjects