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Problems and Exercises I
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APPLYING THE ETHICAL PRINCIPLES

Put yourself in the position of someone serving on an Institutional Review Board (IRB) or Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). Members of these committees are asked to make decisions about the ethical nature of psychological research before it is carried out. In order to do so they must be familiar with the ethical guidelines governing research with human and animal participants. Read carefully each of the following descriptions of psychological research and answer the questions. The research is not unlike that which might be proposed to an ethics committee for review.

NOTE: (1) Both IRBs and IACUCs require more information regarding the rationale, procedures, and safeguards to participants than can be given here. (2) As you are aware, ethical decision-making typically rests with a committee of individuals. We suggest, therefore, that you consider doing these exercises with a small group of your peers. Thus, the process will resemble more closely what actually occurs when members of an IRB or IACUC meet to evaluate a research proposal. What also should become apparent is that not everyone is going to view the situation in the same way. Issues may be raised that you had not considered or views may be expressed with which you do not necessarily agree. Such is the nature of ethical decision making.

Research Proposal 1

A researcher is interested in the important problem of date rape. She proposes to interview male university students about their dating experiences. As part of the interview, each student will be asked to read several descriptions of male-female encounters and for each situation judge whether a rape has occurred. Students also will be asked whether they have ever been in a situation similar to any of those described in the written scenarios. The research participants will be recruited by posting signs around campus asking for male volunteers to be interviewed about contemporary college life styles. Five dollars is promised each participant for a 1-hour interview.



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What APA principles do you believe are most relevant to this proposal? Focus your review on the following major principles: risk, informed consent, deception, privacy, and the risk/benefit ratio. Make your decision based on the information provided; do not assume that procedures not described are part of the research design.





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