Evaluating Research for Ethical Considerations
The professional literature abounds with examples of research where ethical principles may have been violated. Listed below is one such example from the research literature. For this lab e-mail me with your answers to the following questions, based on your review of the scenario listed below and the
· Identify what you think is an ethical violation.
· (specifically, Standard 8: Research and Publication), and indicate which principle(s) you think the research violates. Be specific.
· Recommend a solution to any ethical violations that exist. That is, what could the researchers have done to reduce the ethical problem(s) inherent in the research example?
Research Scenario
Middlemist, Knowles, and Matter (1976) conducted a study investigating whether or not invasions of personal space are physiologically as well as psychologically arousing. The experiment was run in a men's lavatory. By closing off one or another urinal, participants were forced to urinate either in the urinal next to a male confederate of the experimenter or in the urinal one away from the confederate. A second confederate was positioned (so to speak) in a toilet stall adjacent to the urinals. Using a periscope the second confederate observed the urination behavior of the participants. The latency to onset of urination and duration of onset of urination were recorded by the observer.