Using deception ethically: Practical research guidelines for researchers and reviewers.

This article reviews highlights in the literature on existing recommendations for ethical use of deception in psychological research. We conclude that ethical guidelines and aspirational statements set out by research policies and advisory panels on ethics must eventually be operationalized into concrete terms when introducing deception into a research design. Specific directives for using deception are especially important for new researchers developing projects and also for university/departmental reviewers who are being asked to evaluate the ethical standing of proposed research. We offer a checklist designed to cultivate the understanding of junior researchers and to facilitate the review process by instantiating the relevant general guidelines into a set of Y/N questions about intended research. Finally, the article presents empirical data from researchers and ethics reviewers who provided end-user evaluations of the tool. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Medical investigators' views about ethics and fraud in medical research

The objective of this study was to ascertain the views and attitudes of medical investigators on medical ethics, and ethics and fraud in medical research. We sent postal questionnaires to all principal investigators whose study protocols had been assessed by their regional medical ethics committee for biomedical research (mid-Norway) in the years 1986-92 (n = 159). The response rate was 70% (n = 119). Some 80% agreed that ethical considerations had influenced their research and 12% that they would have had ethical scruples today about some of their previous projects. One in ten agreed that they might have achieved better results if they could have paid less attention to ethics. About 70% of the respondents found that the committee's comments were useful and relevant, but most agreed only in part. Around 85% agreed fully or in part that scientific quality is an important ethical element of any project and that researchers put more effort into their study protocol when they knew it would be evaluated by an ethics committee. One in six (18%) respondents agreed fully or in part that they had been exposed to scientific misconduct. Also, 27% knew about one or more cases of fraud or misconduct while 42% stated that this knowledge was not public. We concluded that ethics in medicine and medical research have an important and increasing role among investigators with little or no theoretical background and training in ethics. Scientific fraud and misconduct in medicine is a growing concern among researchers, who welcome a professional body that can manage allegations and cases of fraud.     

A Canadian perspective on using vignettes to teach ethics in psychology.

Vignettes depicting ethical dilemmas are used widely in teaching and learning professional ethics. Such an approach can facilitate learning by allowing opportunities to work through ethical dilemmas using practical, realistic, and complex material that enables participants to: engage in discussion; explore applicable ethical principles; and ideally, to achieve a deeper level of ethical understanding. Despite their widespread use, little research has been conducted on how to maximise the benefits of using ethical dilemmas, nor on the most ethically appropriate ways of presenting scenarios derived, at least in part, from actual occurrences. In this article, we endeavour to contextualise the use of vignettes within the framework provided by the Canadian Code of Ethics for Psychologists, Third Edition (Canadian Psychological Association, 2000) and to use the principles and standards therein to suggest guidelines for the ethical creation and use of vignettes. We begin by reviewing the literature on the use of ethical dilemmas in teaching and learning ethics, including a discussion of the benefits to be gained from using vignettes as one component of a comprehensive approach to ethics education. This is followed by discussion of ethical considerations relevant to the creation and use of vignettes of ethical dilemmas. We conclude with a series of recommendations informed by the Canadian Code of Ethics for Psychologists to guide psychologists in using such illustrative material in an ethically appropriate manner. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Being ethical in organizational research.

Suggests that even a researcher guided by moral intentions and learned in the code of ethics of the American Psychological Association is unprepared for the challenge of being ethical in organizational research. When dealing with persons in situ, in their normal role relations with others, ethical dilemmas arise from the researcher becoming entangled in a network of multiple roles and in the ambiguous and conflicting expectations derived from them. This article describes research with organized Ss and proposes role theory as a means for understanding ethical dilemmas in organizational research and for guiding the creation of research relationships with participants in which to address and moderate these dilemmas. It is proposed that research training and a code of ethics be developed that help researchers establish means for dealing with dilemmas in which there are no ethical solutions except those resting on the ad hoc consent of all parties. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pyogenic liver abscesses in patients with malignant disease: a report of 52 cases treated at a single institution

OBJECTIVE: To generate baseline data about the experiences of researchers applying to five or more local research ethics committees (LRECs) for ethical review. The new multi-centre review system will be compared with these data. DESIGN: Ninety-seven researchers, whose status as multicentre researchers was unclear, were identified from various sources in the South Thames Region. They were each sent a questionnaire asking for their views on the substance of ethical review and their experiences of the process of ethical review. RESULTS: Of the completed questionnaires, 24 fitted the multicentre criteria of applying to five or more LRECs. Responses showed dissatisfaction with LRECs' treatment of the scientific aspects of research, but satisfaction with aspects relating to consent and protection of patients' welfare. Respondents experienced great difficulty in the administration of the process of ethical review. CONCLUSIONS: The need for a new system of ethical review for multi-centre research is beyond doubt. It remains to be seen whether it will be an improvement.     

To ask, or not to ask, about abuse--New Zealand research.

Comments on the article by K. Becker-Blease and J. Freyd (see record 2006-03947-003), which addressed the ethics of asking and not asking research subjects about abuse. J. Read reviews some clinical research in New Zealand in which there was a low level of inquiry about abuse by mental health staff, and notes that this is consistent with the results of similar studies elsewhere. He agrees with Becker-Blease and Freyd that there are many consequences to researchers and clinicians of not asking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What are we teaching our students by not asking about abuse?

Comments on the article by K. Becker-Blease and J. Freyd (see record 2006-03947-003), which addressed the ethics of asking and not asking research subjects about abuse. Their article encourages researchers to more openly consider the risks and benefits of not asking research participants about abuse. They also point out that the alleged risks are not supported by evidence, and there are costs associated with avoiding the questions. On the basis of some of the current authors' own work, they briefly comment on additional benefits of asking about abuse as well as an additional alleged risk involved in asking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of positive ethics and virtues in the context of sport and performance psychology service delivery.

Ethical principles developed for clinical/counseling psychologists are a useful, but incomplete, guide for sport and performance psychology (SPP) practitioners. Positive and virtue ethics are introduced to the SPP ethical literature as an additional resource. Positive ethics focus on practitioners' reaching their fullest potential rather than avoiding risk (Knapp & VanDeCreek, 2006). Virtue ethics emphasize the character of the professional rather than situational variables (Newman, Robinson-Kurpius, & Fuqua, 2002). The context in which SPP practice occurs is described and commonly resulting ethical dilemmas are identified. The aspects of SPP context explored are: the domain of performance, SPP settings, SPP interventions, and expectations. The ethical issues discussed are: multiple relationships (including boundaries and dual agency), confidentiality, and self-regulation. Drawing from positive and virtue ethics as well as small community and military psychology, advice for managing the issues is provided. The inclusion of character and fitness requirements in training programs is explored to address the self-governance necessitated by the professional isolation of SPP practitioners. Suggestions for future professional practice and research are offered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A public health perspective on "The ethics of asking and not asking about abuse."

Comments on the article by K. Becker-Blease and J. Freyd (see record 2006-03947-003), which provides a thought-provoking and important perspective regarding the ethics of researchers asking or not asking adults about abuse they experienced as children. Many of these authors' concerns with research on abuse during childhood apply equally to abuse and violence experienced at all life stages. Focusing on intimate partner violence (IPV), we wish to amplify upon and respond to their observations from the perspective of public health scientists involved in large-scale telephone survey research on violence (including family violence, IPV, sexual violence, and suicide). We strongly agree with Becker-Blease and Freyd that decisions not to ask about abuse play directly into the social forces that perpetuate IPV and other forms of violence as pervasive and pernicious social and public health problems. From a public health perspective, the question is not whether to ask but how to ask about participants' experiences with violence and abuse. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Research participants telling the truth about their lives: The ethics of asking and not asking about abuse.

Most discussions of the ethics of self-report research on abuse and interpersonal violence focus on the risks of asking participants about their experiences. An important element of the cost-benefit analysis--the costs of not asking about child abuse--has largely been ignored. Furthermore, little research has been conducted on the costs and benefits of child abuse research, leaving researchers to make decisions based on individual beliefs about such issues as the prevalence of abuse, the likelihood of disclosure, the effects of child abuse, and the ability of abuse survivors to give informed consent. The authors suggest that these beliefs tend to overemphasize survivors' vulnerability and ignore the costs of avoiding asking about abuse. In fact, these beliefs may reinforce societal avoidance of abuse and ultimately harm abuse survivors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Monitoring of health research by ethics committees

AIMS: All health related research carried out within New Zealand requires appraisal from an accredited ethics committee. The purpose of this project was to pilot an active monitoring programme and to assess the effectiveness of such a programme for future monitoring by ethics committees. METHODS: In this qualitative study interviews were undertaken by representatives from the Wellington and Manawatu-Whanganui ethics committees with principal investigators for sixteen research proposals which had been given ethical approval from the appropriate ethics committee. Issues discussed during the interviews included the protocol and any changes to the methods or research personnel, recruitment of participants, issues arising from informed consent, reporting of adverse events, funding and payment to researchers. Researchers were given the opportunity to provide feedback on the ethical review process and suggestions for improvement. RESULTS: The most significant deviation from the approved protocol concerned access to patient information. Some minor discrepancies between the approved protocols and subsequent research undertaken and the requirements for extending ethical approval of projects beyond the initial approval date were also discussed. CONCLUSIONS: The monitoring programme fulfilled an educational role, providing an opportunity for information sharing between ethics committees and researchers. An active monitoring programme by an ethics committee can detect deviations from the approved protocol beyond the current requirements for researchers to provide annual progress reports. Future monitoring should include, where relevant, access to consent forms and patients' notes.     

Protecting confidentiality rights: The need for an ethical practice model.

All psychologists must uphold the same ethical standards about confidentiality even though each state imposes different legal limits on their ability to protect clients' confidences. The resulting ethical-legal confusion is exacerbated by legally based confidentiality training that treats legal exceptions as if they were the rule and fosters the impression that attorneys are now the only real experts about this aspect of practice. This article provides an ethics-based confidentiality practice model that clarifies the ethical rule and puts its legal exceptions into ethical perspective. Like the Confidentiality section of the American Psychological Association's (2002) Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct, this outline would apply to all psychologists regardless of state laws, but the details of its implementation would vary according to role and setting. It can be used as a universal training outline, a consultation and supervision tool, a guide to professional practice, and a basis for clearer ongoing conversation about the ethics of "conditional confidentiality." Psychologists can use this practice model to regain their status as experts about the confidentiality ethics of their own profession. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some principles for ethics education: Implementing the acculturation model.

In 2005, the authors (Handelsman, Gottlieb, & Knapp, 2005) proposed that ethics education be conducted based on a model of ethics acculturation. Here, the authors extend that work by offering some principles that support implementation of an ethics acculturation model (EAM) over the full course of professional preparation. The authors argue that ethics education should be life-long and provide students and trainees with positive, ongoing, experiential, and supportive educational environments and activities. After presenting and explaining each principle, the authors offer a detailed example showing how various exercises from the existing literature may be employed to facilitate students' ethical development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relative importance of the ethical principles adopted by the American Psychological Association.

When two or more ethical principles are in conflict with one another, decision-makers are typically left to determine which of the two should be given most weight. Nonetheless, in the code of ethics adopted by the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA), principles are ranked in order of importance. This provides decision-makers with guidance in situations of conflict between ethical principles. In contrast to CPA's code of ethics, other professional codes do not provide such guidance. In a previous paper, we provided a philosophical rationale for a ranking of the ethical principles adopted by the American Psychological Association (APA) in order to help guide decision-making. In the present study, we investigated whether APA members collectively believe that some ethical principles are more important than others, and whether their views about the relative importance of ethical principles are consistent with the order (ranking) outlined in the CPA code. The results suggest that although APA members view all principles of their code as being important, they also view certain principles as carrying more weight. The implications of the findings for ethical decision-making are also discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An acculturation model for ethics training: The ethics autobiography and beyond.

An integrated theme for ethics courses and workshops can be very valuable to psychologists engaged in ethics training. The model of ethical acculturation (M. M. Handelsman, M. C. Gottlieb, & S. Knapp, 2005) can serve as a framework for ethics training at undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education levels. The authors outline several advantages of focusing on the process of acculturating to the ethics of psychology rather than having students simply memorize ethics principles and standards. They discuss several pedagogical activities used to implement the acculturation theme and to help students become more active participants in their learning. Examples from student papers and course discussions highlight the ways these techniques aid in the teaching, learning, and assessment of learning in professional ethics training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Medical research and the ethics committee. A questionnaire study among project leaders in the health region 4

All 159 principal investigators whose projects had been assessed by the biomedical research ethics committee in Health Region 4 (Central Norway) during 1986-92 were asked to complete a questionnaire about medical research ethics and the work of the ethics committee. Their answers about scientific fraud and misconduct have been published previously. This paper reports how the 119 respondents (70% of those addressed) regard the role and work of the ethics committees and how they perceived the committee's assessment of their own project. A majority agreed that medical ethics committees are an important part of the scientific community (90%), that scientific quality is an important ethical element of any project (85%), and that researchers put more effort into their study protocol as they knew it would be assessed by an ethics committee (85%). More than 70% agreed that the committee's comments were useful and relevant, but a majority of these agreed only partly. The results are discussed in relation to the characteristics of the investigators.     

It's OK to ask about past abuse.

Comments on the article by K. Becker-Blease and J. Freyd (see record 2006-03947-003), which addressed the ethics of asking and not asking research subjects about abuse. In their article, they systematically reviewed often-voiced concerns about and objections to asking questions about child maltreatment in survey research. They concluded that by failing to ask about a history of child maltreatment, an important predictor of later-life problems may be overlooked. The current authors discuss the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study, which provides strong evidence of the association between early traumatic experiences and some of the major public health problems facing our nation. Results from the ACE study have shown an association between traumatic childhood experiences and a broad range of health outcomes, including liver disease, ischemic heart disease, reproductive health, and mental illness, as well as a variety of health risks such as obesity, smoking, and alcoholism. The associations that these studies showed demonstrate that researchers studying health outcomes who do not ask study subjects about traumatic childhood experiences are overlooking an important risk factor for many of the major health issues of our day. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The inescapably ethical character of psychotherapy.

Reviews the book, Ethics and values in psychotherapy by Alan C. Tjeltveit (see record 1999-16017-000). Many psychologists are aware of the ethical and inescapably value-laden nature of psychotherapy (cf., Kurtines, Azmitia, & Gewirtz, 1992). Despite this awareness about values, however, much confusion persists about the nature and management of values in practice. Tjeltveit's text seeks to address such questions among many others. This fine book is one of the first works to comprehensively integrate the research regarding values inescapability with broader ethical theory and philosophy and its potential impact on psychology. In his extensive review, Tjeltveit explores the meaning of "psychotherapist as ethicist," the varied definitions of values, the relationship between science and ethics, the ethical nature of therapy goals and practice, and implications of these issues for public philosophy and professional ethics (p. 18). Tjeltveit's text is an extremely significant contribution to the discipline, because it is one of the first works to explicitly discuss the value-infused nature of psychotherapy and the consequences that this brings to individual practice, professional standards, and societal expectations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The reliability of ethical reviews: Is it desirable?

Comments on the article, "Reliability in ethics reviews: Some initial empirical findings," by W. O. Eaton (see record 1983-33453-001). The present author explores the possibility that acceptance of low reliability in ethical reviews may not reflect complacency, but rather might reflect an assessment of the situation which is to be desired rather than avoided. The point that is worth considering is that very high levels of agreement in ethical judgements may not be desirable; indeed, he suggests that high levels of agreement in such reviews might reflect an inadequate sampling of views. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychologist as ethics educator: Successes, failures, and unanswered questions.

Critically analyzes the literature documenting ethics education over the last 35 yrs, discussing changes in instructional methodology, current course content, and the empirical literature relevant to the outcomes of ethics education. This analysis reveals several gaps in the ethics competencies of students. The article next describes the results of a national survey of the views of 101 internship directors on the ethical capabilities of predoctoral interns in psychology. In contrast to ethics researchers, internship directors rate the ethics knowledge of psychology interns highly. It ends with a discussion of strengths and weaknesses of current knowledge and directions for future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)