Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Macro-Challenges in Writing Papers: Planning and Formulating Papers
- 1 Eight Common Misconceptions about Psychology Papers
- 2 How to Generate, Evaluate, and Sell Your Ideas for Research and Papers
- 3 Literature Research
- 4 Writing a Literature Review
- 5 Planning and Writing the Experimental Research Paper
- 6 Ethics in Research and Writing
- Part II Micro-Challenges in Writing Papers: Presenting Your Ideas in Writing
- Part III Writing and Preparing Articles for Journal Submission
- Part IV Presenting Yourself to Others
- Epilogue
- References
- Index
6 - Ethics in Research and Writing
from Part I - Macro-Challenges in Writing Papers: Planning and Formulating Papers
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 November 2016
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Macro-Challenges in Writing Papers: Planning and Formulating Papers
- 1 Eight Common Misconceptions about Psychology Papers
- 2 How to Generate, Evaluate, and Sell Your Ideas for Research and Papers
- 3 Literature Research
- 4 Writing a Literature Review
- 5 Planning and Writing the Experimental Research Paper
- 6 Ethics in Research and Writing
- Part II Micro-Challenges in Writing Papers: Presenting Your Ideas in Writing
- Part III Writing and Preparing Articles for Journal Submission
- Part IV Presenting Yourself to Others
- Epilogue
- References
- Index
Summary
Ethics are of utmost importance when doing research and later writing about it. There are many ways to get tripped up ethically in both research and writing. This chapter summarizes some of the pitfalls and gives you advice as to how to avoid them.
RESEARCH ISSUES
A number of ethical issues arise in psychological research (as well as in medical and other research). Some of the main issues involve deception, pain, the ethics of research on animals, and confidentiality.
Deception
Sometimes, for research to work, participants must be kept unaware of the purpose of the research until it is completed. In some cases, however, psychologists have used extreme forms of deception. Stanley Milgram (1974) led participants to believe that they were delivering painful electric shocks to another person, when in fact they were not. When Milgram carried out his studies, researchers were generally not required to obtain advance approval of their plans to conduct a psychological investigation. Another ethical issue arises when researchers pay participants to indulge in a vice, as when researchers pay alcoholics to drink to study their drinking behavior. Today, deception is permitted in research only when the benefits clearly outweigh the costs.
Informed Consent
Before participants begin their involvement in a study, they are required to give informed consent to participate in the research. In the informed-consent procedure, the individuals are told what kinds of tasks they may be expected to perform and what kinds of situations they may expect to encounter, with specific qualifications on the use of deception. They are also told that they may withdraw from the study without penalty. It is unethical to run a study without informed consent. For children or others who are not capable of giving fully informed consent, it is necessary to obtain informed consent as well from a parent or other guardian.
Experience Is the Best Teacher
Bob knows a tenured faculty member who planned a series of experiments and decided informally to test some pilot subjects in order to fine-tune his materials in advance of submitting them to his institutional review board. The board caught wind of what the faculty member was doing and made a formal accusation of academic misconduct against him. He ended up losing his privilege of testing subjects for an extended period of time.
- Type
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- Information
- The Psychologist's CompanionA Guide to Professional Success for Students, Teachers, and Researchers, pp. 131 - 144Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2016