Research Ethics

1. Research Ethics Accurate generalizations require us to minimize the impact of bias. Bias is anything that can lead us to a particular interpretation or conclusion. Research bias is the distortion of results so they reflect personal bias.

2. Research Ethics If objectivity is impossible, should we pursue �advocacy research�? We run the risk of social research becoming propaganda or advertising! Total objectivity may be unattainable..but we can still strive to be as objective as possible.

3. General guidelines for minimizing bias� Be skeptical�distinguish strongly-supported conclusions & weakly-supported or speculative conclusions. Be aware of your values & preferences and try to limit their effect on observations, analysis & interpretation. Avoid gender and culture bias. Avoid disclosing your hypotheses to subjects�to reduce �expectancy� bias.

4. General guidelines for minimizing bias� Base research on theory�deduce hypotheses from theory. Orient research to disconfirmation. Specify hypotheses & methodology in advance.

5. Ethics in Social Research As sociological methods have become more powerful, concerns over ethics have mounted. Research involves both scientific issues & ethical issues. Ethical issues arise from: (1) problems being studied, (2) research setting, (3) procedures, (4) participants, (5) type of data being collected.

6. Classic social research & ethical dilemmas  Laud Humphrey�s study of male homosexual encounters in public washrooms (the �tearoom trade�). Most who frequented �tearooms� were very conventional guys who saw themselves as heterosexual! An ethical firestorm involving consent, confidentiality, aiding in crime, and undue pressure on respondents.

7. Milgram�s research on �Obedience to Authority�:  The experiment brought 2 people together in a lab for a study on �learning�. Each real subject (�teacher�) was paired with a confederate of Milgram�a �learner� who was really a professional actor . Subject-teachers & confederate-learners were put in separate rooms. Following Milgram�s instructions, subject-teachers administered an escalating set of �electric shocks� to confederate-learners whenever the latter made an error. Up to 2/3 of the subject-teachers obeyed Milgram and administered the maximum �electric shock�, ostensibly 450 volts, to the confederate-learners!!

8. Milgram�s subjects experienced anxiety, distress, seizures, uncontrollable giggling�and guilt once they found out what was really going on. Milgram�s research helps explain why atrocities can occur. His research also highlighted major ethical concerns on issues of informed consent, deception, and distress or harm to subjects. Zimbardo�s research on how social context and roles can create abusive (and submissive) behavior added to the knowledge gained from Milgram, and raised similar ethical issues!

9. Making ethical research decisions�  Balance the need to gain knowledge with the need to protect participants. Costs: anxiety, embarrassment, loss of dignity and/or privacy, psychosocial harm. Benefits: advances in knowledge, psychosocial & financial rewards.

10. Basic ethical guidelines:  Informed consent; Reasonably informed consent (explain major goals & procedures, describe benefits / costs, explain how respondent was chosen, answer questions, emphasize participation is voluntary). Confidentiality & Anonymity (once field work is finished destroy all identifying information; data sets securely stored & contain no identifying information; publish results in aggregate or use pseudonyms). Avoid placing undue pressure on participants. Minimize the costs of participation. Do follow-up interviews or �debriefings� with experiments or quasi-experiments.