Identify and Describe: Commonly used research methods and the ethical considerations that are appropriate for the study of Social Psychology.
Informed consent: In general, people should be aware when they are participating in research and comprehend what will happen to them during the study (at least in general terms that do not give away the hypothesis). They are then offered the option to participate in the study, as well as the option to withdraw at any moment. This is precisely why the above described Facebook emotional contagion study is seen as unethical. However, certain approaches, such as naturalistic observation in public settings or historical research based on public documents, do not necessitate getting informed permission.
Privacy: Although it is legal to study people's behaviour in public, even if they are unaware, researchers cannot breach their privacy by observing them in toilets or other private locations without their knowledge and agreement. In addition, researchers may not identify individual participants in their research publications (we typically report only group means and other statistics). With online data collection becoming more popular, researchers must also be mindful of following local data privacy laws, collecting only the data that they truly need (e.g., avoiding including unnecessary questions in surveys), strictly restricting access to raw data, and having a plan in place to securely destroy the data once it is no longer required.
Hazards and Benefits: Participants in psychological research should be subjected to risk only if they completely comprehend the dangers and the expected benefits clearly outweigh the risks. The Stanford jail study is a well-known example of a failure to achieve this requirement. It was scheduled to operate for two weeks but was forced to close after only six days due to mistreatment endured by "jail prisoners." Even in less severe circumstances, researchers utilising the IAT to explore implicit prejudice must consider the repercussions of providing feedback to participants about their unconscious prejudices. Similarly, any manipulations that have the potential to elicit strong emotional reactions (such as the culture of honour study described above) or somewhat permanent changes in people's beliefs or behaviours (such as attitudes toward recycling) must be carefully examined by the IRB.
Deception: Social psychologists may need to deceive participants (e.g., through the use of a cover story) in order to avoid demand characteristics by concealing the real nature of the study. This is often done to prevent participants from changing their behaviour in abnormal ways, particularly in laboratory or field studies. When Milgram was recruiting subjects for his tests on loyalty to authority, for example, he framed it as a study on the effects of punishment on memory! Deception is typically permitted only when (a) the benefits of the study outweigh the risks, (b) participants are not reasonably expected to be harmed, (c) the research question cannot be answered without deception, and (d) participants are informed about the deception as soon as possible, usually through debriefing.
Debriefing is the process of notifying research participants of the aim of the study as soon as feasible, exposing any deceptions, and correcting any misconceptions they may have as a result of participation. Debriefing also entails limiting any potential harm. For example, in order to study the impact of sad emotions on charitable behaviour, participants can be asked to think sad thoughts, see a sad movie, or listen to sad music. Debriefing is therefore the time to restore participants' spirits by having them contemplate positive ideas, view a cheerful film, or listen to happy music.
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