Research Methods

Ethical Dilemmas

1. In studying the effect of over reward the subjects were promised a very large sum of money for performing a task, and the quality of their work and liking for the task were measured after they completed it and were paid. When the purpose of the experiment was explained to them and they were asked to return the money, except for the $2.00 they were originally promised at the time of recruitment, all the subjects agreed to return the extra sum.

2. Students in a school of education were told by the experimenter that questionnaires revealed that they were unsuited for the teaching profession, although this was untrue. The expectation was that students with such evaluations would do poorly in their course work, because these negative appraisals would lower their self-esteem. Many of the students were upset with the "results" of the questionnaire and considered abandoning the teaching profession.

3. A "notice of employment" was distributed. When the prospective "employees" arrived, however, they discovered that it was an experiment and not an employment interview. One subject had given up a half day of work and had his suit cleaned.

4. I used a projective test which is a measure of masculinity-femininity. Since I did not want it known that this was an M-F measures I did not so describe it in administration or feedback to the participants.

5. All subjects in the course were promised information on the outcome of any experiments in which they volunteered to participate. But many of these experiments were not completed at the end of the semester and so could not be reported In class.

6. A graduate student in another department, to whom I was a technical (instrumentation) consultant, had one subject (an eight-year-old child) who experienced a severe emotional trauma during the experiment. During the experimental session the subject "went to pieces," left the room and returned home without the experimenter's understanding what was wrong. The procedure involved GSR recording. Only later did the experimenter learn that the child believed that blood was being drawn from his hand. The electrode wires were red plastic insulated and the write-out was in red ink.

7. While the operational details of the experiment that affected him were explained to the subject, the basic purpose of the study was misrepresented by telling him that it was a test of the speed of the visual system, when it was actually a test of long-term memory. Telling the actual purpose of the experiment might have effected the subject's behavior and made the results difficult to generalize. In any case, the subject who was willing to take part for the stated purpose would probably be as willing to take part for the actual one.

8. Kidney patients were studied for intellectual changes before and after hemodialysis to investigate the possibility that uremia has subtle effects on cognition. The patient and his nearest relative were both asked to give consent. The patient's only hope of living depended upon acceptance and continuation on the program.

9. In a clinical study involving projective testing of college students, it became evident that certain subjects, especially one young man, exhibited pathology to the extent that the researchers were concerned. I do not know whether anyone tried to communicate with the young man to the extent of attempting to make a referral, but he later committed suicide.

10. Research on techniques for reducing racial and religious hostilities required participation of highly prejudiced subjects. The operational procedures were made clear to the subjects before they were asked to consent to participates but neither before nor after the experiment was it disclosed to them that the research was sponsored by an antiprejudice group or that the research was explicitly designed to study techniques for affecting racial attitudes.

11. A psychologist who was a full-time employee of a company conducted an attitude survey in one of the company plants at the time of a union organizing drive. The announced purpose of the survey was to disclose any sources of dissatisfaction with employment in the plant. The usual guarantee of anonymity was given to the participants. In the course of the study the psychologist was able to identify certain individuals or groups with strong pro-union feelings. This information if furnished to the plant manager, could have been of value in combating the organization drive.

12. A social psychologist attached a psycho-galvanometer to subjects (male college students). The participants were told that the needle would be deflected if they were aroused, and that if the needle deflected when they viewed photographs of nude males, it would indicate latent homosexuality. The false feedback was given so that the subjects were led to believe incorrectly that they were latent homosexuals. After the experiment the ruse was explained.

13. Freshmen at an orientation procedure spent several days of hectic activity including diagnostic testing and the like. Intermingled in this testing material were some research questionnaires that were administered because of a longitudinal study on the effect of institutional attendance on personality and values. Just before they started to complete this questionnaires they were told that it was not a required test.

14. Financial rewards were used with the destitute or with impoverished prisoners to have them participate in research involving drugs or high-stress conditions where it seemed likely that persons under ordinary circumstances would not participate even for a considerably larger financial inducement.