Deck 4: Ethics in Research

Question 1

The Tuskegee study involved ____.

A) injecting unsuspecting patients with live cancer cells
B) failing to provide treatment for men with syphilis
C) appearing to administer severe shocks to participants
D) exposing participants to extremes of freezing temperature

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Clinical equipoise refers to a ____.

A) researcher's ethical responsibility to do no harm
B) researcher's ethical responsibility to provide informed consent
C) clinician's ethical responsibility to provide the best possible treatment for research participants
D) clinician's ethical responsibility to ensure that people get care even if they cannot pay for it

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Which example violates the ethical guidelines concerning deception?

A) Administering shocks without giving participants advanced warning and obtaining consent
B) Administering shocks even with advanced warning and informed consent
C) Telling participants that they may receive shocks even though no shocks are administered
D) Telling participants that they may or may not receive shocks even though no shocks are administered

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Active deception refers to ____.

A) deception that is not justified by the study's potential value
B) deception that is justified by the study's potential value
C) withholding information from participants
D) presenting misinformation to participants

Question 5

A researcher who deliberately omits informing participants about the true intent of a questionnaire is committing ____.

A) active deception
B) passive deception
C) fraud
D) plagiarism

Question 6

Milgram's obedience study is ethically questionable because the ____.

A) participants were compensated with an exorbitant fee
B) shocks posed a threat of real physical harm
C) participants were potentially psychologically harmed
D) participants' confidentiality was not protected

Question 7

The Nuremberg Code was developed ____.

A) following war crime trials after World War II in the 1940s
B) by the APA following Milgram's obedience study in the 1960s
C) by the U.S. Surgeon General following medical experiments in the 1970s
D) by the FDA to regulate prescription medications in the 1980s

Question 8

If a researcher explains what will happen in a research study using language that potential participants are unlikely to understand, then the researcher has violated the intent of ____.

A) confidentiality
B) preventing harm
C) informed consent
D) anonymity

Question 9

Although the intent of informed consent is to provide participants with complete information about a research study before they agree to participate, this is sometimes impossible because ____.

A) deception is an important part of the research
B) there is no real reason to tell them everything
C) people do not bother to read the form
D) people are often unable to understand the research protocol

Question 10

Studies involving deception ____.

A) are not permitted under any circumstances
B) do not require that participants ever be debriefed
C) should not be done with participants with diminished mental capacity
D) should not be done if the deception involves concealing possible harm

Question 11

According to the principle of clinical equipoise, it is unacceptable to conduct a study comparing two treatments when ____.

A) the treatments are known to be equally effective
B) there is no information about the effectiveness of either treatment
C) one treatment is known to be more effective than the other
D) experts disagree about the effectiveness of the treatments

Question 12

What is an ethical principle identified in the Belmont Report?

A) Compassion
B) Kindness
C) Beneficence
D) Equality

Question 13

The APA ethical guidelines ____.

A) permit research using active deception but do not allow research with passive deception
B) permit research using passive deception but do not allow research with active deception
C) permit research using either active or passive deception
D) do not allow research using either active or passive deception

Question 14

The Belmont Report provides basic ethical guidelines for the ____.

A) treatment of human participants in research
B) treatment of nonhuman subjects in research
C) reporting of research results
D) order of authors

Question 15

A researcher who tells participants that a study is about group decision-making rather than how people cave to peer pressure is committing ____.

A) active deception
B) passive deception
C) fraud
D) plagiarism

Question 16

Under which of the following circumstances is informed consent not necessary?

A) A drug study where participants receive experimental medication
B) Perceptual research where participants are asked to judge different colors
C) A public opinion survey where participants complete anonymous questionnaires
D) When the participants are unlikely to be able to understand the consent form

Question 17

If individuals are pressured into participating in research because the researcher is in a position of power or authority, then which ethical principle is being compromised?

A) No harm
B) Informed consent
C) Confidentiality
D) Anonymity

Question 18

The Milgram study involved ____.

A) injecting unsuspecting patients with live cancer cells
B) failing to provide treatment for men with syphilis
C) asking participants to administer what appeared to be severe shocks to other people
D) exposing participants to extremes of freezing temperature

Question 19

The Nuremberg Code outlines basic ethical guidelines for the ____.

A) treatment of human participants
B) treatment of nonhuman subjects
C) determination of authorship
D) reporting of research results

Question 20

Passive deception refers to ____.

A) deception that is not justified by the study's potential value
B) deception that is justified by the study's potential value
C) withholding information from participants
D) presenting misinformation to participants

Question 21

Which behavior is an example of plagiarism?

A) Talking about your research before it is published.
B) Integrating your own ideas into someone else's work.
C) Using someone else's ideas in your research report without a citation.
D) Making a mistake in the formatting of a reference.

Question 22

Confidentiality ____.

A) ensures that information is kept secret and private
B) reduces the negative effects of deception
C) conceals the nature of the study to increase participation
D) involves deceiving participants

Question 23

Research that presents no more than minimal risk to participants and involves no intervention and no deception is an example of what type of research?

A) Category I
B) Category II
C) Category III
D) Category IV

Question 24

Fraud involves ____.

A) making a mistake when conducting statistical analyses
B) errors made while collecting data
C) making up data to fit the hypothesis
D) accidentally misdating a document

Question 25

One responsibility of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) is to ensure that ____.

A) research reports are honest and accurate
B) nonhuman subjects will be kept safe in research
C) human participants will be kept safe in research
D) human participants will not be deceived in research

Question 26

What is one of the guidelines for using deception in a research study?

A) Individuals must be informed that deception is involved before they consent to participate.
B) Individuals must be debriefed about the deception within six weeks after the data have been analyzed.
C) The deception can only be something a "reasonable person" would consider acceptable.
D) The deception cannot conceal a real risk or danger to participants.

Question 27

One responsibility of the IACUC is to ensure that ____.

A) research reports are honest and accurate
B) discomfort is minimized in nonhuman subjects in research
C) discomfort is minimized in human participants in research
D) human participants will not be deceived in research

Question 28

Which study below would be a considered a Category I study by the IRB?

A) A study involving observations of behavior in a public place
B) A study in which participants will work on a very low-risk task in a lab
C) A study in which children will be exposed to violent television shows
D) A study in which an experimental drug will be given to adults

Question 29

In research with nonhuman subjects, researchers ________.

A) do not need to justify their research
B) are not allowed to euthanize animals
C) do not need to operate within ethical guidelines
D) must make reasonable efforts to minimize discomfort and pain in the animals

Question 30

Deception is in direct contradiction with which element of the ethical guidelines?

A) No harm
B) Informed consent
C) Confidentiality
D) Anonymity

Question 31

A researcher describes the unique characteristics of an individual research participant and uses the participant's real first name when writing about her study. Which ethical principle is being compromised?

A) No harm
B) Informed consent
C) Confidentiality
D) Anonymity

Question 32

Which element is part of the APA ethical guidelines?

A) Researchers cannot pay participants.
B) Researchers must perform research in their area of expertise.
C) Researchers must provide the IRB with the true identities of their participants.
D) Researchers must document the steps they took to avoid plagiarism.

Question 33

Debriefing is ____.

A) rarely effective at removing lingering effects
B) more effective the sooner it is delivered
C) more effective with active deception
D) a continuation of the deception

Question 34

Who is acting as a confederate?

A) Hannah, who thinks she has guessed what the "real" purpose of the study is and tells everyone else
B) Aisha, who signs up for every research study she can
C) Jay, who pretends to be a research participant even though he is actually working with the experimenter
D) Mikael, a research participant who decides on his own to mess with other participants

Question 35

Researchers often use a coding system to associate data with a particular participant during the course of a research study in order to ____.

A) reduce the risk of fraud
B) help protect confidentiality
C) help with data analysis
D) deceive participants

Question 36

One way to detect fraud in research is to ____.

A) review the proposal by the IRB
B) review the proposal by the IACUC
C) submit the article for peer review
D) verify all the citations and references in the study

Question 37

One way to detect fraud in research is to ____.

A) look for a ceiling effect
B) look for a floor effect
C) replicate the study
D) verify all the citations in the study

Question 38

One of the primary responsibilities of the IRB is to carefully review ____.

A) the informed consent procedure
B) the statistical analyses
C) other research in the topic area
D) any manuscripts produced from the research

Question 39

Which form of deception is permitted in psychological research?

A) Telling participants they will be paid and then not paying them
B) Not telling participants about a possible risk of serious physical harm in the study
C) Observing participants who don't know they are being observed
D) Telling participants they can withdraw at any time and then refusing to let them leave

Question 40

The primary cause of research fraud is ____.

A) accidental mistakes
B) incompetence
C) laziness
D) competitive pressure

Question 41

There are some studies for which written informed consent from participants is not required.

Question 42

One safeguard against fraud is review by the IRB.

Question 43

According to the APA guidelines, it is unethical to offer pay to participants an exorbitant amount of money to entice them to participate in research that they would otherwise avoid.

Question 44

It is widely considered ethical to coerce participants to participate in a study if the research findings could be very beneficial to society.

Question 45

A researcher is not obligated to use anesthesia for surgery in nonhuman subjects in research.

Question 46

Deceiving participants about the purpose of a research study is strictly forbidden in all circumstances by APA guidelines as well as by government regulations.

Question 47

A researcher decides not to report the data from three participants whose results contradicted the researcher's hypothesis. This is an example of fraud.

Question 48

IRB approval for a study makes a researcher look good, but is not required to conduct research for university professors conducting research on human participants.

Question 49

Researchers seeking to conduct studies with nonhuman subjects must get their studies approved by their institution's Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC).

Question 50

If deception is used, participants must be debriefed as soon as possible after the study.

Question 51

A researcher who deliberately misinforms participants about the research study is committing passive deception.

Question 52

Research studies consistently demonstrate that debriefing participants effectively eliminates the problems caused by deception.

Question 53

The Tuskegee study involved injecting patients with live cancer cells without their knowledge or consent.

Question 54

According to the APA ethical guidelines, researchers can use deception whenever they wish and need to justify the use of deception only if participants could suffer significant physical or emotional harm.

Question 55

Although some forms of deception are allowed, a researcher cannot deceive participants about potential risk in the study.

Question 56

Using someone else's ideas in your research report without a citation is plagiarism even if you have paraphrased the ideas in your own words.

Question 57

A researcher should make efforts to minimize pain in nonhuman subjects in research.

Question 58

Deliberately putting inaccurate information in a research report is an example of fraud.

Question 59

Milgram's obedience study is ethically questionable because the shocks posed a threat of physical harm.

Question 60

The principles outlined in the Belmont Report are no longer used today.

Question 61

Explain why researchers may be motivated to commit fraud, and explain three safeguards against fraud in the scientific community.

Question 62

Informed consent involves three elements: information, understanding, and volunteering. Describe how the intent of informed consent can be compromised by limitations in any one of these three elements.

Question 63

Describe a situation where it may be permissible to dispense with informed consent.

Question 64

Briefly explain why a researcher might find it necessary to use deception in a research study.

Question 65

Describe a few ways to prevent plagiarism.

Question 66

State the three basic ethical principles for scientific research outlined in the Belmont Report, and explain how a famous unethical study from the past violated each principle.

Question 67

Describe the factors that influence a debriefing's effectiveness.