Please choose the Stanford Prison Experiment o and within 2-3 pages, please type up an analysis of whether the experiment did or did not follow the three ethical principles of the Belmont Report:
Respect for persons: Individuals should be treated as autonomous.
Beneficence: Individuals should be protected from harm and should have their well
-being maintained.
Justice: There should be a fairness of distribution among subjects and potential subjects of the
burdens and benefits of research
Notes:
Stanford prison experiment
Dr. Zimbardo had to stop the experiment early.
Subjects actually became too caught up in their roles.
Guards became aggressive and verbally abusive.
Some guards exhibited fits of rage.
Prisoners became passive.
Some wept uncontrollably.
The danger to the subjects was not just psychological, but physical as well.
Video (no captions available):
https://exhibits.stanford.edu/spe/catalog/fd396xq4047
Video Transcript:
https://exhibits.stanford.edu/spe/catalog/vw274py0621
Unintended consequences of research
There is research that may seem innocent, but can be potentially damaging to a
subjects sense of self-esteem and self-worth.
Self-esteem and anxiety
Exposing aspects of someone that they would rather have concealed.
Encouraging reflection on past events that the subject has tried to forget.
Revealing the subjects ignorance
Unintended consequences of research
Surveys are powerful, but caution must be exercised.
Researchers must consider the potential psychological harm that a survey or question could inflict.
Examples:
Questions exposing a subjects prejudice toward some particular group could lead to a
loss of a subjects self-image.
A series of questions about current events could be stressful to someone who is ignorant of such events.
Asking questions about painful past experiences, like failed relationships, child abuse,
etc, can also produce anxiety for the subject
Good research practices
Respondents should always feel free to decline to participate.
Even if they have already agreed to participate, they should feel free to refuse any question they find objectionable.
It is the job of the researcher to inform respondents of this freedom
Inequalities are often difficult to avoid completely, so researchers have to be keen to minimize them as much as possible.
Unequal benefits or burdens
Experiments: there is often the experimental group (who gets something extra) and the control group (who gets nothing speciallike a placebo).
Minimizing inequality
Objective: make the inequalities as minimal and as random as possible.
Deception in research
Social Scientists often conduct covert research.
The trick is to balance the need for deception with the rights of the subjects.
Observing individuals or elected officials in a public place or a public forum.
Keeping the true intentions of ones research hidden from the respondents, or only telling them part of the reasons for conducting the research.
Some scholars argue that all deception in research is unethical.
Others claim that some level of deception may be necessary
Scientific safeguards
There are several safeguards in place that can help to ensure the safety of subjects.
Institutional Review Boards (IRB)
Informed Consent
Debriefing
Anonymity and Confidentiality
Institutional Review Boards (IRB):
Mandated by all institutions that receive federal funding for research. All research regarding human subjects must be submitted for review by the IRB.
If you are tinkering with people, their minds, feelings, attitudes, etc, then you need to get the IRB to
okay your project
Informed Consent
Informs the subjects (prior to their consent to participate) of the purpose of the study, the type of
information being requested, who is conducting the study, and the risks involved.
Generally this is a form spelling out the purpose of the research, risks, etc, and states an agreement
by the subject to participate in the research
Debriefing
Mitigates the problem of deception by explaining to the subjects after the experiment is over about
the nature of the experiment.
Basically, this is where you as the researcher come clean about any deception that you use
Anonymity
The researcher cannot link the information provided with the person who provides it. Researchers have no way of knowing who participated.
Confidentiality
Information exists to link the results with a particular respondent. The researcher promises to hold
this information in confidence.
