© 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Chapter 6 Choosing and Using Subjects: Pragmatic and Ethical Considerations

Adapted from © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Populations and Samples Population Large group including all potential subjects May be defined in many ways All children in day care Children in day care in a particular city Sample Small subgroup of subjects chosen from the population May need to define a subpopulation for study

Adapted from © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Sampling and Generalization Goal is to apply results obtained from a sample to the population Generalization is the ability to apply findings from a sample to the population Random sample: A sample in which every member of the population has an equal chance of being chosen Ideal that is not often met Nonrandom sample: A sample from a specialized population (e.g., college students)

Adapted from © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Nonrandom Sampling and Internet Research Internet research uses a nonrandom sample Participants are self-selected volunteers Participants know how to use computers Participants have access to computers Participants are Internet savvy Two ways to demonstrate the validity of Internet research Compare Internet with non-Internet results Compare Internet results with theoretical predictions Internet and non-Internet samples may not differ significantly

Adapted from © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved. The Ten Points of the Nuremberg Code 1. Participation of the subjects must be totally voluntary, and the subjects should have the capacity to give consent to participate. Further, the subjects should be fully informed of the purposes, nature, and duration of the experiment. 2. The research should yield results that are useful to society and that cannot be obtained in any other way 3. The research should have a sound footing in animal research and be based on the natural history of the problem under study 4. Steps should be taken in the research to avoid unnecessary physical or psychological harm to subjects

Adapted from © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved. 5. Research should not be conducted if there is reason to believe that death or disability will occur to the subjects 6. The risk involved in the research should be proportional to the benefits to be obtained from the results 7. Proper plans should be made and facilities provided to protect the subject against harm 8. Research should be conducted by highly qualified scientists only

Adapted from © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved. 9. The subject should have the freedom to withdraw from the experiment at any time if he or she has reached the conclusion that continuing in the experiment is not possible 10. The researcher must be prepared to discontinue the experiment if it becomes evident to the researcher that continuing the research will be harmful to the subjects

Adapted from © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Summary of APA Ethical Guidelines Research proposals submitted to an IRB must be accurate Informed consent shall fully inform participants of the nature and requirements for participation Informed consent shall fully inform participants of the parameters of the study Special steps must be taken to protect research participants in a subordinate position

Adapted from © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Informed consent may be waived under certain circumstances Excessive inducements for participation are to be avoided Deception is allowed if no other alternative is available Participants must be given timely feedback about the nature, results, and conclusions of the research

Adapted from © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Acquiring Human Participants for Research Three considerations Research Setting Laboratory vs. Field Research Needs of Your Research (e.g. personality or physical characteristics) Institutional Policies and Ethical Guidelines

Adapted from © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Voluntary Participation and Validity Volunteer Bias Two assumptions Volunteers differ in meaningful ways from nonvolunteers Differences between volunteers and nonvolunteers affect the external validity of your research.

Adapted from © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Characteristics of Individuals Who Volunteer for Research Maximum Confidence 1.Volunteers tend to be more highly educated than nonvolunteers 2.Volunteers tend to come from a higher social class than nonvolunteers 3.Volunteers are of a higher intelligence in general, but not when volunteers for atypical research (such as hypnosis, sex research) 4.Volunteers have a higher need for approval than nonvolunteers 5.Volunteers are more social than nonvolunteers

Adapted from © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Considerable Confidence 1. Volunteers are more “arousal seeking” than nonvolunteers (especially when the research involves stress) 2. Individuals who volunteer for sex research are more unconventional than nonvolunteers 3. Females are more likely to volunteer than males, except when the research involves physical or emotional stress 4. Volunteers are less authoritarian than nonvolunteers 5. Jews are more likely to volunteer than Protestants; however, Protestants are more likely to volunteer than Catholics 6. Volunteers have a tendency to be less conforming than nonvolunteers, except when the volunteers are female and the research is clinically oriented Source: Adapted from Rosenthal & Rosnow, 1975.

Adapted from © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Attitude Change as a Function of Fear Arousal and Volunteerism

Adapted from © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Remedies for Volunteer Bias Make your appeal very interesting Make your appeal as nonthreatening as possible Explicitly state the theoretical and practical importance of your research Explicitly state why the target population is relevant to your research Offer a small reward for participation

Adapted from © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Have a high-status person make the appeal for participants Avoid research that is physically or psychologically stressful Have someone known to participants make the appeal Use public or private commitment to volunteering when appropriate

Adapted from © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Active Deception in Research Misrepresentation of the purpose of the research False statements about the identity of the researcher False promises made to the participant Violations of a promise of anonymity Misleading statements about equipment and procedures

Adapted from © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Use of pseudosubjects False diagnoses and other reports False interaction Using placebos or secret administration of drugs Misleading settings and behavior of the experimenter

Adapted from © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Passive Deception in Research Doing unrecognized conditioning Provoking and secretly recording negative behavior of participants Making concealed observations Doing unrecognized participant observation Using projective techniques and other personality tests

Adapted from © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Problems Involved in Using Deception Deceived participants act differently from nondeceived participants Deceived participants may feel duped and experience a loss of self-esteem Participants may find out something negative about themselves Deception may violate requirements of informed consent Deceived participants may be suspicious of future research participation

Adapted from © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Solutions to the Problems of Deception Role Playing Fully informed participants are asked to act as though they were exposed to an experimental treatment Obtaining Prior Consent to be Deceived Participants told that some experiments may involve deception Only those agreeing to deception are used in deception research Debriefing Inform participants of deception AFTER participation

Adapted from © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Effective Debriefing Make a full disclosure of purposes of research Give a complete description of and justification for the deception Discuss the problem of perseverance Provide a convincing argument for the need for deception

Adapted from © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Demonstrate bogus equipment, or show participants that actual responses were never seen by the experimenter Have participants observe a subsequent session showing deception in action Make the individual an active participant in the research (e.g., a confederate)

Adapted from © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Considerations When Using Animal Subjects Animal research has made considerable contributions to science You must decide which animals to use May be driven by requirements of research You may use animals for procedures not allowed with humans Still bound by ethical requirements You must decide how to acquire animals Animal subjects must be treated humanely and ethically

Adapted from © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Summary of APA Ethical Code for Using Animals in Research Care and use of animals shall comply with all relevant laws and professional standards A trained researcher shall supervise all aspects of research using animals The researcher is responsible for training and supervising assistants Steps are taken to reduce discomfort, infection, pain, and illness among animal subjects Painful procedures are allowed only if other methods are unavailable

Adapted from © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Appropriate anesthesia is used for surgical procedures, and steps are taken to minimize pain and infection during and after surgery Humane methods are to be used when euthanizing animal subjects

Adapted from © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Issues Surrounding Using Animals in Research Should the research be done? Cost/benefit analysis should be done Research should be done only if benefits outweigh costs Generality of animal research data Results from animal research may not generalize to humans Many results do generalize to humans Generalization to humans need not be a requirement The animal rights movement Questions the use of animals in research

Adapted from © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Alternatives to Using Animals in Research In Vitro methods Substituting tissue samples for living animals May be adequate for early phases of drug testing Impractical for behavioral research Cannot study the effects of environmental variables and manipulations of the brain Computer Simulation Mathematical model of behavior programmed into a computer and behavior is simulated Research on living animals still needed to develop the computer models