Research Methods in Social Relations ch. 3 – G.
Maruyama & C.S. Ryan (2014)
In the US, nearly all human research requires Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval to ensure
ethical standards, following the unethical practices of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. The Belmont
Report outlines three core principles:
1. Respect for persons: involves informed consent (understanding & accepting procedures and
risks), treating individuals as autonomous agents, and providing extra protection for those
with diminished autonomy. Ethical challenges include avoiding coercion, ensuring clear
communication, and addressing concerns around deception and subject pools (a group of
people recruited for research participation, often students, typically as part of a course
requirement or for academic credit) in research.
2. Beneficence: Focuses on maximizing benefits and minimizing risks. Research is only ethical if
benefits outweigh risks, with IRBs requiring reports of adverse events.
3. Justice: ensures fair participant selection, avoiding exploitation of vulnerable groups, and
ensuring research benefits all, not just advantaged populations.
Deception is sometimes necessary, but is ethically problematic because by definition participants are
unable to provide full informed consent. Types of deception:
Deception by Omission: Omitting details about research aims, acceptable to a degree but
problematic if it impacts willingness to participate.
Active Deception: Involves outright lies, like false feedback, which can lead to anger and
persistence of false beliefs.
Double Deception: Telling participants the study is over, then collecting more data, is now
deemed unethical.
Ethical use of deception involves using role-play, obtaining consent to conceal, or allowing
participants to withdraw data after debriefing. Quasi-experimental studies must ensure anonymity
and confidentiality while considering the duty to warn of potential harms. Institutional Review Board
(IRB) approval, sending a full project description, is mandatory before starting any research. An
expedited review is for minimal risk studies (no more harm than in daily life) and can be done by
only one IRB member, thus expediting the process. A full review is required for studies that involves
significant risk, vulnerable populations or complex procedures and is more thoroughly reviewed by
the entire IRB committee, thus taking more time.
Maruyama & C.S. Ryan (2014)
In the US, nearly all human research requires Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval to ensure
ethical standards, following the unethical practices of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. The Belmont
Report outlines three core principles:
1. Respect for persons: involves informed consent (understanding & accepting procedures and
risks), treating individuals as autonomous agents, and providing extra protection for those
with diminished autonomy. Ethical challenges include avoiding coercion, ensuring clear
communication, and addressing concerns around deception and subject pools (a group of
people recruited for research participation, often students, typically as part of a course
requirement or for academic credit) in research.
2. Beneficence: Focuses on maximizing benefits and minimizing risks. Research is only ethical if
benefits outweigh risks, with IRBs requiring reports of adverse events.
3. Justice: ensures fair participant selection, avoiding exploitation of vulnerable groups, and
ensuring research benefits all, not just advantaged populations.
Deception is sometimes necessary, but is ethically problematic because by definition participants are
unable to provide full informed consent. Types of deception:
Deception by Omission: Omitting details about research aims, acceptable to a degree but
problematic if it impacts willingness to participate.
Active Deception: Involves outright lies, like false feedback, which can lead to anger and
persistence of false beliefs.
Double Deception: Telling participants the study is over, then collecting more data, is now
deemed unethical.
Ethical use of deception involves using role-play, obtaining consent to conceal, or allowing
participants to withdraw data after debriefing. Quasi-experimental studies must ensure anonymity
and confidentiality while considering the duty to warn of potential harms. Institutional Review Board
(IRB) approval, sending a full project description, is mandatory before starting any research. An
expedited review is for minimal risk studies (no more harm than in daily life) and can be done by
only one IRB member, thus expediting the process. A full review is required for studies that involves
significant risk, vulnerable populations or complex procedures and is more thoroughly reviewed by
the entire IRB committee, thus taking more time.
