Psych 540: Deception In Psychological Research
Deception in Research
PSYCH/540
August 5, 2013
Kimberly Wilkins
Deception in Research
Ethics are a very important part of psychological research, not only for the researcher, but also for the participant(s). Researchers have a duty to protect the participants from any kind of harm or injury. There is not one exact definition of ethics, as there are many. In this paper I will discuss what I believe the definition of ethics to be, along with the connection between deception and ethics. Deception is also an important issue when dealing with ethics and psychological research. I will also discuss the risk/benefit ratio when related to ethics and deception. When does the risk of the experiment outweigh the benefits of it? According …show more content…
• Fourth, the IRB must determine that the participants will be provided knowledge of the possible risks and benefits associated with the study.
• Fifth, the IRB must determine the frequency of review and when necessary, providing adequate monitoring of the data collected from the study.
Deception refers to deliberately withholding and misleading information to the participant (“Deception Topics,” n.d.). Using deliberate deception to get an individual to participate in a study is always unethical, though not all research can be done without deception. For example, if researchers believe the participants may change their behavior if they know details, those details may be intentionally left out. If this occurs, researchers must provide alternate designs and procedures of the study. If there are no alternatives, the researchers must be able to justify their use of deception (“Deception Topics,” n.d.). Some researchers believe that deception is necessary, at times, to maintain validity, although other researcher’s feel it is always unacceptable (“Deception Topics,” …show more content…
Normative accounts question if misleading in certain cases is ethical and if it is deemed as deception. Non-normative accounts of deceptive do not (Athanassoulis & Wilson, 2009). Non-normative accounts are more desired in research than normative accounts. In non-normative accounts ethics is not questioned. The “Deception Topics” (n.d), states that omission or passive deception refers to when researchers withhold information from the participants, whereas commission or active deception refers to refers to when researchers intentionally misleads a participant.
Deception is one of the most debatable issues in psychological research. Research has shown that individuals who participated in deceptive versus non-deceptive found the deceptive studies more enjoyable. These individuals also found a greater sense of educational gain and did not mind their privacy invaded or experiencing deception. This research suggests that although deception is unethical on a moral basis, it is not seen that way from the view of the
PSYCH/540
August 5, 2013
Kimberly Wilkins
Deception in Research
Ethics are a very important part of psychological research, not only for the researcher, but also for the participant(s). Researchers have a duty to protect the participants from any kind of harm or injury. There is not one exact definition of ethics, as there are many. In this paper I will discuss what I believe the definition of ethics to be, along with the connection between deception and ethics. Deception is also an important issue when dealing with ethics and psychological research. I will also discuss the risk/benefit ratio when related to ethics and deception. When does the risk of the experiment outweigh the benefits of it? According …show more content…
• Fourth, the IRB must determine that the participants will be provided knowledge of the possible risks and benefits associated with the study.
• Fifth, the IRB must determine the frequency of review and when necessary, providing adequate monitoring of the data collected from the study.
Deception refers to deliberately withholding and misleading information to the participant (“Deception Topics,” n.d.). Using deliberate deception to get an individual to participate in a study is always unethical, though not all research can be done without deception. For example, if researchers believe the participants may change their behavior if they know details, those details may be intentionally left out. If this occurs, researchers must provide alternate designs and procedures of the study. If there are no alternatives, the researchers must be able to justify their use of deception (“Deception Topics,” n.d.). Some researchers believe that deception is necessary, at times, to maintain validity, although other researcher’s feel it is always unacceptable (“Deception Topics,” …show more content…
Normative accounts question if misleading in certain cases is ethical and if it is deemed as deception. Non-normative accounts of deceptive do not (Athanassoulis & Wilson, 2009). Non-normative accounts are more desired in research than normative accounts. In non-normative accounts ethics is not questioned. The “Deception Topics” (n.d), states that omission or passive deception refers to when researchers withhold information from the participants, whereas commission or active deception refers to refers to when researchers intentionally misleads a participant.
Deception is one of the most debatable issues in psychological research. Research has shown that individuals who participated in deceptive versus non-deceptive found the deceptive studies more enjoyable. These individuals also found a greater sense of educational gain and did not mind their privacy invaded or experiencing deception. This research suggests that although deception is unethical on a moral basis, it is not seen that way from the view of the