Psychology 4070Research Ethics

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

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 PrisonExperiment

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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• 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:

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.