Ethics in ResearchPart I: Human Research

Brian J. Piper, Ph.D., M.S.

1:00: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uhpu2N4rQZM

Objectives• Ethically challenged examples– Little Albert (Watson & Rayner)– Tuskegee Syphilis (US Public Health Service)– Obedience (Milgram)

• APA ethics code• Institutional Review Board– consent/assent (deception)– confidentiality

Little Albert

• 1:07-2:20: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxKfpKQzow8

• A wet nurse at the Harriet Lane Home was paid for participation by her 9 month old son Douglas Merritte (1919-1925) in these learning experiments

Watson, J.B. & Rayner, R. (1920). J of Exp Psychology, 3, 1-14.

Beck, Levinson, & Irons (2010). American Psychologist, 65, 301-303.

Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment

• Conducted between 1932-1972 to study untreated syphilis in rural black men (N=600)

• Recruited to study “bad blood”• Received medical care & meals (no penicillin)

and funeral benefits (with autopsy)• Untreated syphilis passed on to wife/children

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_syphilis_experiment

0:20-2:30 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TqrHiO5GwU

Ted Kaczynski

• Henry Murray (right) was engaged in research to understand how could withstand the stress of interrogation

• Ted participated in this research as a sophomore (2 h/week for 1 year), he was only told that it was about “personality”– Part I: “each student had spent approximately two hundred

hours in the research, and had provided hundreds of pages of information about himself, his beliefs, his past life, his family, his college life and development, his fantasies, his hopes and dreams.“ -Kenneth Keniston, member of the Murray team

http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/2000/06/chase3.htm

1893-1988

Methods: Thematic Apperception Test

Ambiguous stimuli are used to generate stories that reveal personality

Kaczynski: Subject of Murray Study• Part II: The candidate immediately went downstairs to the basement

room. A voice from within commanded him to enter, and on complying he found himself facing a spotlight strong enough to blind him for a moment. The room was otherwise dark. Behind the spotlight sat a scarcely discernible board of inquisitors.... The interrogator gruffly ordered the candidate to sit down. When he did so, he discovered that the chair in which he sat was so arranged that the full strength of the beam was focused directly on his face....At first the questions were asked in a quiet, sympathetic, conciliatory manner, to invite confidence.... After a few minutes, however, the examiner worked up to a crescendo in a dramatic fashion.... When an inconsistency appeared, he raised his voice and lashed out at the candidate, often with sharp sarcasm. He might even roar, "You're a liar."

http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/2000/06/chase3.htm

Kaczynski & Murray Study Involvement

• Part III: subject writes an essay about their life philosophy

• They are asked to defend this with another student (actually a confederate)– As instructed, the unwitting subject attempted to

represent and to defend his personal philosophy of life. Invariably, however, he was frustrated, and finally brought to expressions of real anger, by the withering assault of his older, more sophisticated opponent.... while fluctuations in the subject's pulse and respiration were measured on a cardiotachometer.

http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/2000/06/chase3.htmhttp://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/birnbaum102.html

MK-ULTA (1950s-1970s)

• CIA spent 10 million at 30 universities on whether LSD (Lysergic acid diethylamide) could be used as a weapon

• Soldiers did sign agreements to not disclose results of the study

• Some accidents (suicides) did occur

Obedience (Stanley Milgrim)

• Subjects are told that that the study is about learning

• Teacher believes that are giving student (confederate) increasing intensity of shock

• 26/40 subjects reached 450 volts

2:30-8:30: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8olVHKgIBXc

Deception 2: Humphry’s Tearoom Trade

• Sociologist Laud Humphry’s acted as a “watch queen” for homosexual sex in public places

• A disguised Humphry would use license plates to locate and interview men.

• He found that >50% of these men were closeted heterosexuals

1930-1988

APA General Principles (2010)• A: Beneficence (doing of good, maximizing benefits,

minimizing harms) & Non-Malfeasance (violating public trust)

• B: Fidelity & Responsibility: recognize obligation to society

• C: Integrity: promote accuracy, honesty, and truthfulness in all aspects of science

• D: Justice: to treat everyone in research with fairness• E: Respect for People’s Rights & Dignity: no prejudice

http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.aspx#

Institutional Review Board

• Composition: 5+, multi-disciplinary, 1 non-scientist• Study Categories:– Exempt: teaching activities, naturalistic observation,

surveys of non-sensitive material– Expedited: perception, attention, memory– Full Review: pain, stress, embarrassment

Key Components

• Informed Consent (Adult): participant must be able given information about study purpose and methods

• Assent (Children): child much agree to participate

• Discontinuation Clause: You can stop!

Example Consent

Example Assent

Deception?

• This can be occur if there are no alternatives to the research

Individual Differences in IRBs

• General concerns– Expertise: may be unfamiliar with your research– Applied emphasis: may be unclear about basic

research– Biomedical Thinking: may have this viewpoint– Conservatism: why approve anything

• Prison example

http://www.respiratoryreviews.com/sep01/rr_sep01_johnshop.html

Authorship

• Substantial Intellectual Contribution to:– 1) Design– 2) Analysis/writing– 3) Approve Final Study

• 1, 2, & 3 (SfN) versus 1, 2, or 3! (ICMJE)• Not Authorship: $ or administrative

Data “Trimming”

• Methods for dealing with extreme scores must be determined a priori, not post-hoc

Data Falsification:Sir Cyril Burt

• English educational psychologist• Correlation coefficients from 3 studies were

reported as the same to 3 decimal places• Findings replicated but damage done

1883-1971

Data Falsification 2: Marc Hauser

• Primatologist who has published 200+ papers.• Studied self-recognition in cotton top tamarins• Video-tapes not “blind”• Control conditions not run?

1959-

Journal Response to Ethics Issues

• “Statement of Concern”• Corrigenum: correction• Erratum: an error has been made

http://retractionwatch.wordpress.com/2011/04/05/where-did-i-park-my-car-psychological-science-retracts-working-memory-study/#more-2211

Retraction

Retractions

I failed as a scientist. I adapted research data and fabricated research. Not once, but several times, not for a short period, but over a longer period of time. I realize that I shocked and angered my colleagues, because of my behavior. I put my field, social psychology in a bad light. I am ashamed of it and I deeply regret it.... I think it is important to emphasize that I never informed my colleagues of my inappropriate behavior. I offer my colleagues, my PhD students, and the complete academic community my sincere apologies. I am aware of the suffering and sorrow that I caused to them. ... I did not withstand the pressure to score, to publish, the pressure to get better in time. I wanted too much, too fast.

In a system where there are few checks and balances, where people work alone, I took the wrong turn.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diederik_Stapel

OverallStudy Ethical Problem

Watson’s Little Albert No Informed Consent

Tuskegee Syphilis Study No Informed Consent, Respect, Beneficience

Milgrim’s Obedience Deception (Informed Consent)

Murray’s Study with Kaczynski No Informed Consent, Respect, Beneficience

Humphree’s Tearoom Trade Deception (Informed Consent)