1. Psychology 4070 Research Ethics

2. What is the Purpose of Research Ethics? Specifically, to protect subjects/participants from harm as they take part in a study or experiment. There are various types of harm… Physical: due to some type of treatment, drugs, diet. – Eg. clinical studies

3. What is the Purpose of Research Ethics? Mental: research could potentially cause stress, depression, bad feelings in general. Social: others might find out something about you. – Eg. Some condition you may have Stanford Prison Experiment

4. Ethics and Development Ethical treatment of participants is particularly important for developmental research. Children can’t… – Care from themselves. – Protect themselves. – Make informed decisions. Negative effects will likely be long lasting.

5. Ethical Requirements Participants and researchers are protected by research ethics. Human research requires a written proposal that will be reviewed by an institution’s ethics committee. – MUN’s committee is the ICEHR The research must meet certain ethical requirements.

6. Ethical Requirements Informed Consent: Participants or parents/guardians must be informed as to what will happen in the study. This is usually done in writing. The consent form must include the potential risks and benefits of the study.

7. Ethical Requirements Children under 18 cannot provide consent. – A parent/guardian must provide written consent. Anonymity/Confidentiality: Subjects can not be identified in any way. This is particularly important for participants from small communities, for those who have a disease/disorder, etc.

8. Figure 4 FIGURE 4. Individual CSFs obtained from two 12-month- old infants. Note, subject KJ possesses the typical, inverted U-shaped CSF, whereas subject GL possesses an unusual CSF with no overall inverted U-shape. GL's CSF was the most atypical among the sample. Copyright © 2010 Optometry & Vision Science. Published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. 8 Improving the Effectiveness of the Infant Contrast Sensitivity Card Procedure Improving the Effectiveness of the Infant Contrast Sensitivity Card Procedure DROVER, JAMES R.; EARLE, AVERY E.; COURAGE, MARY L.; ADAMS, RUSSELL J. Optometry & Vision Science. 79(1):52-59, January 2002. doi:

9. Ethical Requirements Voluntary Participant: Participants/parents can not be coerced into participating. Not even subtle coercion is acceptable. One can refuse to participate without any negative consequences. One can quit during the study without any negative consequences.