Ethical research respects human dignity and protects participants’ safety, rights, and privacy. This lesson explains how research involving people is reviewed, what informed consent requires, why deception may sometimes be used, and how the Tuskegee Syphilis Study illustrates the consequences of unethical research.
Research involving human participants must follow strict ethical guidelines intended to prevent harm. Institutions that receive federal support for research involving human participants must have access to an institutional review board (IRB).
All flashcards
Institutional review board (IRB)
A committee that reviews human-research proposals to assess their ethical protections for participants.
Informed consent
A participant’s documented agreement to take part after receiving information about the study and potential risks.
Debriefing
A complete, honest post-study explanation of the study’s purpose, data use, and any deception.
Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC)
A committee that reviews animal-research proposals for humane treatment and inspects facilities for compliance.
Tuskegee Syphilis Study
A long-running study in which Black men were not told they had syphilis and were denied effective treatment.
Quiz questions
What is the central function of an institutional review board (IRB)?Answer: To assess ethical protections in proposals involving human participants.
Why might researchers use deception in a study?Answer: To keep knowledge of the exact research question from affecting participants’ responses.
What serious ethical failure occurred in the Tuskegee Syphilis Study after penicillin became an effective treatment?Answer: Researchers withheld treatment and prevented participants from seeking it elsewhere.
How often does an IACUC inspect animal facilities to check that research protocols are followed?Answer: Twice a year.
Why can animals be used to study some processes that researchers could not ethically investigate in humans?Answer: Some processes are sufficiently similar across species to help investigate fundamental questions.
Based on Psychology 2e by Rose M. Spielman, William J. Jenkins, Marilyn D. Lovett (OpenStax), licensed CC BY 4.0. Adapted into a summary, flashcards and quizzes.