Chapter 4.3, Problem 112E

(a)

To determine

To find out in which of the circumstances given in the question would you allow collecting personal information without the subjects’ consent.

Answer to Problem 112E

Consent not needed.

Explanation of Solution

It is given that: Government agency takes a random sample of income tax returns to obtain information on the average income of people in different occupations. Only the incomes and occupations are recorded from the returns, not the names.

Thus, consent is not needed because the names are not recorded, it will not be possible to link the income/occupation to a single individual and thus consent is not needed.

(b)

To determine

To find out in which of the circumstances given in the question would you allow collecting personal information without the subjects’ consent.

Answer to Problem 112E

Consent not needed.

Explanation of Solution

It is given that: A social physiologist attend public meetings of religious group to study the behaviour pattern of their members.

Thus, consent is not needed because the meetings are public and thus everybody is allowed to be present during these meetings, which means that no consent is needed as long as the psychologist is not misleading the other members.

(c)

To determine

To find out in which of the circumstances given in the question would you allow collecting personal information without the subjects’ consent.

Answer to Problem 112E

Consent is needed.

Explanation of Solution

It is given that: A social physiologist pretends to converted to membership in a religious group and attends private meetings to study the behaviour patterns of its members.

Thus, in this case consent is needed because a psychologist is deliberately misleading the members and attending private meetings, thus consent is needed.