Post by Day 3 a brief examination of the ethical responsibility a researcher has to study participants, the client organization or the community-at-large (if any).

Post by Day 3 a brief examination of the ethical responsibility a researcher has to study participants, the client organization or the community-at-large (if any). Your examination should include the following:

• A brief description of your results from the Research Participation Ethics Questionnaire, including your reaction to the results.
• An evaluation of whether research participants’ responsibilities are as much an ethical issue as a researcher’s responsibilities. Justify your response.

  Research Participation Ethics Questionnaire: What Do You Think? Please answer the questions below regarding your perceptions of research participant behaviors in relation to potential ethical issues:

  1. Misrepresenting aspects of yourself to complete an online survey for credit (example: saying you are in a relationship for a study on Couple Behavior when in fact you are not).

  2. Providing random responses on a survey or task in order to finish it quickly.

  3. Talking about the procedures or hidden purpose of a study to other people in your class or others who have not yet participated in the study.

  4. Choosing to participate in research studies over alternative forms of receiving class credit (example: essays, interviews, or attending talks) only because it “seems easier.”

  5. Arriving late to a research experiment.

  6. Answering questions on a survey based on what you think the experimenter wants to see.

  7. Not showing up to a research experiment.

  No ethical Minor Major issue ethical issue ethical issue

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  Minor ethical issue

  8. Doing other activities while completing an online survey (example: talking on the phone, texting, emailing, chatting).

  9. Completing an online survey during class.

  10. Not reading the recruitment statement or informed consent form.

  11. Not asking the researcher questions when you are confused about a question or task.

  12. Dropping out of a study early or part- way through because you know you can still get full credit.

  13. Skimming instructions to finish a survey or task more quickly.

  14. Choosing only online studies over laboratory studies (regardless of the study’s purpose).

  15. Purposefully putting wrong answers to “mess with” the data.

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  ______________________________________________________________________________ Author contact information:

  Larissa Barber 1425 W.  Lincoln  Highway,  Northern  Illinois  University,  DeKalb IL  60115 Phone: 815-­‐753-­‐0740 Email: lbarber@niu.edu

  Acknowledgements: We would like to thank James Korn and David C. Munz for their review  and comments on earlier versions of the participant ethics module.

  Copyright 2012 by Larissa K. Barber and Patricia G. Bagsby All rights reserved. You may reproduce multiple copies of this material for your own personal use, including use in your classes  and/o sharing with individual colleagues as long as the author’s name and institution and the Office of Teaching Resources in Psychology heading or other identifying information appear on the copied document. No other permission is implied or  granted  to  print, copy, reproduce, or distribute  additional copies of this material. Anyone who wishes to produce copies for purposes other than those specified above must obtain the permission of the author(s).