Dr Paul TJ James Bangkok Universitytulip.bu.ac.th/~paul.j/BA 618 09 - Chapter 3.pdf01-Sep-09 4 Ethical Issues in Social Research No Harm to the Participants People being researched

01-Sep-09

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C H A P T E R 3 – T H E E T H I C S A N D P O L I T I C S O F S O C I A L R E S E A R C H

The Practice of Social Research

Chapter Outline

Ethical Issues in Social Research

Two Ethical Controversies

The Politics of Social Research


Being Ethical (Webster’s):

conforming to the standards of conduct of a given profession or group

ethics are norms for conduct that distinguish between or acceptable and unacceptable behavior

Dr Paul TJ James Bangkok University

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Ethics in Research

We are going through a time of profound change in our understanding of the ethics of applied social research. From the time immediately after World War II until the early 1990s, there was a gradually developing consensus about the key ethical principles that should underlie the research endeavor.

Two marker events stand out (among many others) as symbolic of this consensus. The Nuremberg War Crimes Trial following World War II brought to public view the ways German scientists had used captive human subjects as subjects in oftentimes gruesome experiments. In the 1950s and 1960s, the Tuskegee Syphilis Study involved the withholding of known effective treatment for syphilis from African-American participants who were infected. Events like these forced the re-examination of ethical standards and the gradual development of a consensus that potential human subjects needed to be protected from being used as 'guinea pigs' in scientific research.guinea pigs in scientific research.

By the 1990s, the dynamics of the situation changed. Cancer patients and persons with AIDS fought publicly with the medical research establishment about the long time needed to get approval for and complete research into potential cures for fatal diseases. In many cases, it is the ethical assumptions of the previous thirty years that drive this 'go-slow' mentality. After all, we would rather risk denying treatment for a while until we achieve enough confidence in a treatment, rather than run the risk of harming innocent people (as in the Nuremberg and Tuskegee events). But now, those who were threatened with fatal illness were saying to the research establishment that they wanted to be test subjects, even under experimental conditions of considerable risk. You had several very vocal and articulate patient groups who wanted to be experimented on coming up against an ethical review system that was designed to protect them from being experimented on.

Although the last few years in the ethics of research have been tumultuous ones, it is beginning to appear that a new consensus is evolving that involves the stakeholder groups most affected by a problem participating more actively in the formulation of guidelines for research.

While it's not entirely clear, at present, what the new consensus will be, it is almost certain that it will not fall at either extreme: protecting against human experimentation at all costs vs. allowing anyone who is willing to be experimented on.

Ethical Code Development

1947 Nuremberg Code - first modern ethical code

1964 Declaration of Helsinki - modified several times

1990 WHO International Guidelines on Ethics and 99Epidemiology

1993 WHO International Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical Research Involving Human Subjects

University Responsibilities

The University is responsible for:

developing, operating and reviewing policies and guidelines which are consistent with recognised standards and best practice in the disciplines

providing appropriate guidance providing appropriate guidance.

supporting researchers undertaking research, which is ethically sound through implementation of guidance and appropriate supervision.

Establishing University and Faculty-based Research Ethics Committees


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Consent

Harm

Privacy; and

Deception

Consent

Informed consent Subjects must know potential risks, benefits, conditions

of participation, and ability to withdraw without penalty

If consent is not informed it can be as bad as (or worse If consent is not informed, it can be as bad as (or worse than) not getting consent at all

Two types Direct or Substitute (3rd party) If the person has a legal guardian, need substitute

When in doubt, ask for permission Consent should always be obtained in writing

Elements of Consent

Capacity Ability: individual is competent enough to understand,

evaluate, and make a decision of whether to participate or not

Age: > 18 or emancipated minor

Information Is it complete/comprehensive and fully understood?

Voluntariness Subjects have the choice to participate or withdraw and

are aware of this choice


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No Harm to the Participants People being researched should never be injured (physically,

mentally, emotionally, socially, psychologically).

Examples: Tuskegee Syphilis Study, Stanford Prison E i tExperiment

Possible to eliminate 100% of risk?

Informed Consent – a norm in which subjects base their voluntary participation in research projects on a full understanding of the possible risk involved.

Harm

Subjects must be protected from harm, or at the least fully informed about the potential costs and benefits resulting from the harm

Research that is physically or psychologically Research that is physically or psychologically dangerous is generally considered unethical

Care needs to be taken with subjects who are, or consider themselves to be, relatively powerless Children, elderly, w/ disabilities

Harm (cont)

There is no pre-specified level for the unethical threshold of harm (e.g., 36 degrees or 12 pounds)

Consideration is in the cost/benefit ratio In general, make sure the benefits (from the study) outweigh

the costs (to individual participants) and not just financial!the costs (to individual participants) and not just financial!


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Anonymity and Confidentiality Anonymity – guaranteed in a research project when neither

the researchers nor the readers of the findings can identify a given response with a given respondent.

Confidentiality – guaranteed when the research can identify a given person’s responses but promises not to do so publicly.

Privacy

Sensitivity of topic &/or data Can responses/results affect the subject’s life if known by

others

How public/private is the setting?

P bli di l f th d t Public display of the data Personally identifiable information should be removed or

changed


Deception Deception within social research needs to be justified by

scientific or administrative concerns.

Debriefing – interviewing subjects to learn about their Debriefing interviewing subjects to learn about their experience of participation in the project.


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Deception

Often tied to the informed part of consent Omission: withhold information Commission: provide false information

I.e., lying

bli hi f l i i bj f l hi h d f Establishing false intimacy: subject feels a high degree of comfort because he/she does not know is “on the record”

Using accomplices: someone helping the researcher that the subject doesn’t know is helping

Deception (cont)

Sometimes a degree of deception is necessary IRB needs to regulate

When it is, subjects MUST be debriefed after the studystudy Hoax Informing: researcher convinces (tells) each

subject who was deceived that they were, in fact, deceived

Desensitisation: a systematic process of demonstrating that there was deception Suggest that behavior was a result of the circumstances

Point out that subjects’ behavior was not abnormal or unusual


Analysis and Reporting Ethical obligation to colleagues in the scientific community.

All results must be reported (positive and negative).

All limitations must be admitted.


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Publishing

Same results/study should not be submitted/published in more than one place Dual publication: in more than one place

Partial publication: parts of a single study as if they Partial publication: parts of a single study as if they were separate studies

Portions of one publication should not be reprinted in another without permission Copyright laws are in effect

Authorship—inclusion and order should be based on contribution

Ethical Conduct

The ethical conduct of research is essential for thoseworking in all disciplines, but particularly for researchers in medicine and life sciences.

An unethical approach can invalidate findings lead to An unethical approach can invalidate findings, lead to prosecution and damage the image of the research community within the public realm as a whole.

Taken from Higher Education and Research Opportunities (HERO)


Trouble in the Tearoom – Laud Humphreys Studied homosexual activities in public restrooms in parks

Researcher became interested in the lives of participants

Researcher volunteered to become “watchqueen”

Researcher collected personal information about the Researcher collected personal information about the participants (license numbers of cars)

Which ethical issues are in question?


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Observing Human Obedience – Stanley Milgram Participants imitated a laboratory-based World War II

controversy

Participants were assigned job of “teacher” – to teach a list of works to the “pupil.” If the pupil got the word wrong, the p p p p g g,teacher would administer increasing levels of shocks to the pupil.

Which ethical issues are in question?

Elton Mayo

Mayo, Elton.

"The Maladjustment of the Industrial Worker." In Wertheim Lectures in Industrial Relations, 1928. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1929.

Elton Mayo

Between 1924 and 1933, research teams from Harvard University conducted field studies on worker productivity at the Western Electric Hawthorne plant near Chicago, one of the most advanced manufacturing facilities that employed 29,000 workers to produce telephones and telecommunications equipment for AT&T.

The experiments initially concentrated on the relationship between productivity and work place lighting. Groups of six workers were removed from the production line to perform their normal work in an enclosed space where researchers changed the intensity of the electric lighting. To the researchers' surprise, both more and less light created higher productivity levels.

Sociologist Mayo joined the experiments in early 1928 and realised that the workers chosen for the experiment were accorded higher status by their co-workers. The increased performance was due to their increased motivation. Productivity was related to social effects, not the level of lightning. Mayo called such social behaviour the 'Hawthorne Effect'.

Mayo expanded the research to look at pay and incentives, rest periods, hours of work, supervision and work pace. Again, he recorded remarkable increases that had little relation to these variables.

Mayo concluded that the workplace was above all, a social system of interdependent actors in which workers are influenced more by the social demands of the work place, by their need for recognition, security and a sense of belonging, than by their physical working environment.

He also concluded that: job satisfaction leads to higher job productivity; pay is a relatively low motivator; management is only one factor affecting behaviour; the informal group exerts a strong influence on motivation. Years after the study, it was discovered that the workers' "social interaction" in the experiment had surpassed

Mayo's analysis. The participants decided to purposefully derail the experiments by manipulating their production levels.


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The Hawthorne Studies

Hawthorne Works of Western Electric Company

1924 - Chicago

Research focus: Relation of quality and quantity of illumination to efficiency in industry

Four Important Studies Four Important Studies

“The Hawthorne Studies”

Illumination Study (November 1924) Designed to test the effect of lighting intensity on worker productivity Heuristic value: influence of human relations on work behavior

Relay Assembly Test Room Study (1927-1932) Assembly of telephone relays (35 parts - 4 machine screws) Production and satisfaction increased regardless of IV manipulation Workers’ increased production and satisfaction related to supervisory practices Human interrelationships are important contributing factors to worker productivity Bottom Line: Supervisory practices increase employee morale AND productivity

Interviewing Program (1928-1930) Investigate connection between supervisory practices and employee morale Employees expressed their ideas and feelings (e.g., likes and dislikes) Process more important than actual results

Bank Wiring Room Observation Study (November 1931 - May 1932) Social groups can influence production and individual work behavior RQ: How is social control manifested on the shop floor? Informal organization constrains employee behavior within formal organizational

structure

Hawthorne Studies Research Implications

Illumination Study (November 1924) The mere practice of observing people’s behavior tends to alter their behavior

(Hawthorne Effect)

Relay Assembly Test Room Study (1927-1932) Relationships between workers and their supervisors are powerful Human interrelationships increase the amount and quality of worker participation in

decision makingdecision making

Interviewing Program (1928-1930) Demonstrated powerful influence of upward communication Workers were asked for opinions, told they mattered, and positive attitudes toward

company increased

Bank Wiring Room Observation Study (November 1931 - May 1932) Led future theorists to account for the existence of informal communication

Taken together, these studies helped to document the powerful nature of social relations in the workplace and moved managers more toward the interpersonal aspects of organizing.


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Hawthorne Studies - Criticisms

Not conducted with the appropriate scientific rigor necessary Too few subjects (N=5) No control groups Subjects replaced with more “cooperative” participants Outcomes are therefore considered:

WORTHLESS, with GROSS ERRORS and demonstrated researcher BIAS and INCOMPETENCE


The ethics of social research deals mostly with the methods employed.

Political issues tend to center on the substance and use of research.

There are no formal codes of acceptable political conduct, while there are formal codes of conduct for social research.


Objectivity and Ideology Science achieves objectivity through inter-subjectivity.

Weber (1925): sociology needs to be unencumbered by personal values if it is to make a special contribution to society.personal values if it is to make a special contribution to society.


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Politics with a Little “p” Social research in relation to contested social issues cannot

remain antiseptically objective.


Politics in Perspective1. Science is not untouched by politics.

2. Science does proceed in the midst of political controversy and hostility.

3 An awareness of ideological considerations enriches the 3. An awareness of ideological considerations enriches the study and practice of social research methods.

4. Whereas researchers should not let their own values interfere with the quality and honesty of the research, this does not mean that researchers cannot or should not participate in public debates.

Codes and Policies for Research Ethics

Honesty

Strive for honesty in all scientific communications. Honestly report data, results, methods and procedures, and publication status. Do not fabricate, falsify, or misrepresent data. Do not deceive colleagues, granting agencies, or the public.

Objectivity

Strive to avoid bias in experimental design, data analysis, data interpretation, peer review, personnel decisions, grant writing, expert testimony, and other aspects of research where objectivity is expected or required. Avoid or minimize bias or self-deception. Disclose personal or financial interests that may affect research.

Integrity

Keep your promises and agreements; act with sincerity; strive for consistency of thought and action.

Carefulness

Avoid careless errors and negligence; carefully and critically examine your own work and the work of your peers. Keep good records of research activities, such as data collection, research design, and correspondence with agencies or journals.

Openness

Share data, results, ideas, tools, resources. Be open to criticism and new ideas.

Respect for Intellectual Property

Honor patents, copyrights, and other forms of intellectual property. Do not use unpublished data, methods, or results withoutpermission. Give credit where credit is due. Give proper acknowledgement or credit for all contributions to research. Never plagiarize.

Confidentiality

Protect confidential communications, such as papers or grants submitted for publication, personnel records, trade or militarysecrets, and patient records.

Responsible Publication

Publish in order to advance research and scholarship, not to advance just your own career. Avoid wasteful and duplicative publication.

* Adapted from Shamoo A and Resnik D. 2003. Responsible Conduct of Research (New York: Oxford University Press).


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Codes and Policies for Research Ethics

Responsible Mentoring

Help to educate, mentor, and advise students. Promote their welfare and allow them to make their own decisions.

Respect for colleagues

Respect your colleagues and treat them fairly.

Social Responsibility

Strive to promote social good and prevent or mitigate social harms through research, public education, and advocacy.

Non-Discrimination

Avoid discrimination against colleagues or students on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity, or other factors that are not related to their scientific competence and integrity.related to their scientific competence and integrity.

Competence

Maintain and improve your own professional competence and expertise through lifelong education and learning; take steps to promote competence in science as a whole.

Legality

Know and obey relevant laws and institutional and governmental policies.

Animal Care

Show proper respect and care for animals when using them in research. Do not conduct unnecessary or poorly designed animal experiments.

Human Subjects Protection

When conducting research on human subjects, minimize harms and risks and maximize benefits; respect human dignity, privacy, and autonomy; take special precautions with vulnerable populations; and strive to distribute the benefits and burdens of research fairly.

* Adapted from Shamoo A and Resnik D. 2003. Responsible Conduct of Research (New York: Oxford University Press).


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Dr Paul TJ James Bangkok Universitytulip.bu.ac.th/~paul.j/BA 618 09 - Chapter 3.pdf01-Sep-09 4 Ethical Issues in Social Research No Harm to the Participants People being researched