Deck 3: Ethical Issues in Social Science Research

Question 1

What did Nazi concentration camp experiments and the Tuskegee syphilis experiment have in common?

A)Researchers inflicted deliberate harm on research subjects.
B)Research subjects signed informed consents,but didn't understand them.
C)Researchers failed to share their findings in a manner that would benefit society.
D)Researchers promised to follow the Belmont Report principles,but then didn't.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

What led to the development of the Nuremberg Code?

A)Nazi experiments such as "freezing experiments" conducted on prisoners
B)late-twentieth-century research with borderline ethical situations such as telling part of the truth,but not the whole truth,about the purpose of a project
C)Internet studies such as the Harvard Facebook study,conducted in a new technology environment for which ethics have not been fully developed
D)military studies in nations around the world,such as the Human Terrain System,in which governments can use research findings for good or for evil

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Tom works at a hospital and plans to conduct research on the families of persons receiving hospice care.Tom's research is not funded by the federal government,but the hospital does receive federal funds for other studies.What is Tom's institutional review board (IRB)responsibility? Tom's research

A)does not need IRB review because it is not federally funded.
B)does need IRB review because his institution receives federal funding for other studies.
C)will need IRB review if he plans to publish or disseminate the findings.
D)does not need IRB review because although hospice patients are vulnerable,their families are not.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Which document forms the foundation of the U.S.national system of human subjects' protection?

A)American Sociological Association code of ethics
B)Human Terrain System
C)Belmont Report
D)Nuremberg Code

Question 5

If researchers used the model of the Human Terrain System,they might

A)shift cultural study from real-world settings to online settings.
B)embed sociologists in another country to generate deep cultural understanding.
C)request high-level security clearances for researchers.
D)begin their cultural study with Facebook data.

Question 6

Stephanie plans a study that will interview elderly people about traumas in the first third of their lives.Which of the following considerations is most centrally derived from the Nuremberg Code?

A)how to keep her data confidential
B)whether participants might be harmed by recalling traumatic events
C)whether elderly people constitute a vulnerable population
D)which ethical system Stephanie should use to classify certain traumas as "evil"

Question 7

One reviewer called Sudhir Venkatesh's Gang Leader for a Day "evil" because,in order to conduct his study,Venkatesh

A)collected data without consent.
B)shared information about illegal activities with police.
C)bought,sold,and used drugs while conducting research.
D)encouraged and fed a drug dealer's ego.

Question 8

When sociologists consider whether research is ethical,they are referring to if

A)the sociologist is a good or evil person.
B)the actions are right or wrong,good or bad.
C)laws and policies,even unjust ones,have been followed.
D)all sources are properly cited.

Question 9

Dr.Holloway conducts a study of the parents of school shooting victims.She carefully conducts a risk versus benefit analysis,weighing the risk of ________ against the benefit of ________.

A)psychological harm to parents;greater understanding of school shootings
B)having her research rejected by the IRB;conducting the research
C)the study failing;the study succeeding
D)parents feeling upset by recalling events;parents feeling validated by sharing their stories

Question 10

Mikal wants to study the effects of sleep deprivation.He chooses a homeless shelter as a field site,playing a radio loudly during the night so people can't sleep.He chose the homeless shelter because,without other options,people will stay all night for the duration of the study.Mikal has violated the justice principle of the Belmont Report because he

A)is doing harm to people by depriving them of sleep.
B)chose a vulnerable population simply for his own ease in accessing a research population.
C)is inconveniencing people unnecessarily (he could have just read existing literature instead).
D)is violating the privacy of his research subjects.

Question 11

In his study of gangs,how did Sudhir Venkatesh deceive research subjects?

A)He told them about his research but said it would never be published.
B)He did not tell them his true purpose and instead said that he was writing a biography.
C)He told them about his research but said he would protect their identities,which he did not.
D)He told them about his true purpose but said he would not report them to the police,which he did.

Question 12

The American Anthropological Association denounced the Human Terrain System because

A)this project gave information to the U.S.military that could be used to harm people.
B)this project equipped researchers with military technology that they were not properly trained to use.
C)researchers were not well equipped with knowledge of local cultures and languages.
D)the U.S.military promoted a policy of "no informed consent" for this project.

Question 13

What kind of institutions must have institutional review boards?

A)colleges and universities that grant bachelor's,master's,or doctoral degrees
B)any institution that has a record of ethical breaches in the past
C)any academic institution
D)any institution that receives research money from the federal government

Question 14

Junmey conducts a study on water quality in a village where people are suffering from poor water.Junmey does not use her findings to help the people,even when she could,stating that the purpose of this study is for her to earn a dissertation.She says she will apply findings in later work,but not this one.Junmey has violated which Belmont principle?

A)respect
B)application
C)beneficence
D)justice

Question 15

In the 2006 sociology study of Harvard University Facebook users,an ethical dilemma emerged.Which question represents the most important ethical issue at stake? Should sociologists

A)deceive research participants?
B)pose as members of a social group to which they don't belong?
C)expose private data by sharing it with other researchers?
D)gather data without informing the person who posted the data?

Question 16

The Belmont Report states the importance of treating people as autonomous agents with the right to decide whether to participate in a study.This principle is referred to as

A)consent.
B)respect.
C)beneficence.
D)justice.

Question 17

Maria wants to avoid the Wichita jury study's ethical breach in her upcoming sociological study of twelve-step addiction recovery programs.She

A)does not offer alcohol to alcoholics.
B)does not pose as an addict.
C)poses as an addict.
D)does not secretly audiotape meetings.

Question 18

The word vulnerable has many meanings.In research,what is the MOST important quality that distinguishes a population as "vulnerable"?

A)belonging to one of the groups identified as protected by the federal government (age,race,nation of origin,etc. )
B)physical incapacity
C)potential inability to give informed consent
D)having traumatic life experiences

Question 19

What did researchers do to the subjects in the Tuskegee syphilis experiment?

A)injected them with syphilis,so researchers could have newly established diseases to study
B)denied them newly available antibiotics,so researchers could study the natural course of the disease
C)injected them with substances that would intensify syphilis,so researchers could watch the progression of the disease
D)studied prisoners,reasoning that prisoners do not deserve to freely choose whether to participate in research

Question 20

Shawn has read the Belmont Report and follows established practice for ensuring the protections emphasized in the report.Accordingly,Shawn develops a plan for ensuring

A)vulnerable populations are not included in his study.
B)voluntary informed consent.
C)his work is reviewed by an advisory committee at his university.
D)his preparation for conducting research.

Question 21

The ________ inspired Stanley Milgram's experiment.

A)massive carnage of World War I
B)human suffering of the Great Depression
C)role of ordinary people in carrying out the Holocaust
D)potential harm of newly developed nuclear weapons

Question 22

What was the ethical breach in the Milgram obedience experiment?

A)The people receiving electrical shocks were physically hurt.
B)One participant developed heart problems after being shocked.
C)The people administering shocks might have experienced psychological harm.
D)The risk versus benefit analysis showed no potential benefit to society.

Question 23

Nazi experiments that caused suffering and death are universally denounced.The studies conducted by Milgram,Zimbardo,and Humphreys,however,are

A)denounced in other disciplines,but are always considered ethical within sociology.
B)recognized as not causing lasting harm,and creating valuable knowledge.
C)still debated by sociology ethics boards,because disciplinary ethics are tentative and still in formation.
D)denounced for not creating valuable knowledge,though there were no ethical issues.

Question 24

Jack Katz makes a complex argument against IRBs,the central point of which is that IRBs have

A)become corrupt and easily influenced.
B)overstepped their bounds.
C)failed to protect the most vulnerable.
D)politicized research such that researchers cannot produce unbiased knowledge.

Question 25

Dr.Omani is planning a sociological study of environmental habits among homeowners.His university's IRB requires him to submit a ________,which includes research questions and methods,descriptions of the subjects,and steps he will take to minimize risk.

A)consent form
B)IRB application
C)research protocol
D)human subjects research form

Question 26

A sociology study about employment seeking and criminal backgrounds collects data from publicly available databases,and then de-identifies the data.No one,not even the researcher,can trace a piece of data back to the person it describes.This researcher has achieved

A)an ethical study.
B)confidentiality.
C)anonymity.
D)beneficence.

Question 27

Omar studies Stanley Milgram's 1950s Yale University research.Though more than a half-century has passed,Omar can see similar important issues in his social world of the twenty-first century.Milgram influences Omar to ask what question?

A)Why are some people evil,despite society's attempt to socialize people toward goodness?
B)Why do people follow authority,even when they believe the authority is wrong?
C)Why do people want to hurt each other,even when they say they don't?
D)Why do people trust machines so much?

Question 28

Why was Laud Humphreys' deception considered so ethically serious?

A)The potential consequences for his research subjects were so significant.
B)Sexuality is a private matter.
C)Humphreys was only a graduate student at the time of the study.
D)Other sociologists colluded with Humphreys,working with him to collect more data.

Question 29

If you were conducting a sociology study and had particular concern about you,as the researcher,deceiving people by misrepresenting your identity,which study and subsequent scholarly dialogue would be MOST helpful to consult?

A)Philip Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment
B)Laud Humphreys' Tearoom Trade
C)Stanley Milgram's obedience experiment
D)the Human Terrain System program of military studies

Question 30

During the IRB process,the IRB informs Dr.Gold that her research is "expedited." This means

A)her research is so high risk that it requires full IRB committee review.
B)her research is so low risk that the IRB staff approves the project without full committee review.
C)the study cannot be conducted because it is too similar to one already conducted in the past.
D)the ethical problems are so complex that the proposal must be referred to the Department of Health and Human Services.

Question 31

Lorena wants to conduct a study of how race is discussed among jurors on race-related police brutality cases.Her study follows the results of the Wichita jury study,so she

A)requests court permission to pose as a juror,but her vote will not really count.
B)secretly audio records jury deliberations,but with altered speed on her recording device,so voices will be unidentifiable.
C)interviews jurors after the case has ended,because she is legally forbidden from recording jury deliberations.
D)audio records jury deliberations without being present in the room,after receiving the informed consent of the jury,plaintiff,and defendant.

Question 32

You are the hiring director of a large university's IRB,working according to the rules of the National Research Act of 1974.Who would you recruit to serve on the board?

A)all research scientists with experience in ethical challenges
B)a broad range of experts from the university,and one community member
C)research scientists from outside the university,so none would have conflicts of interest
D)a lawyer,a policy maker,an ethicist,and a variety of research professors

Question 33

Philip Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment included a consent form,which every research subject signed.In what way did informed consent make it more difficult to identify an emerging ethical problem?

A)Research subjects knew that they could be assigned a prisoner role.When,then,did the suffering and humiliation of being a prisoner become too much?
B)Research subjects all expected to be guards,not prisoners.Why,then,were some research subjects assigned roles to which they did not consent?
C)Research subjects understood that they could be assaulted.Why,then,would any degree of assault be unethical,if people had signed up for it?
D)Research subjects did not realize they consented to have their own criminal records used as part of the experiment.At what point was their privacy breached?

Question 34

The central ethical principle at stake in Laud Humphreys' Tearoom Study was ________;in contrast,the central ethical principle at stake in the study of Harvard Facebook users was ________.

A)privacy;respect
B)consent;deception
C)beneficence;respect
D)deception;privacy

Question 35

In the early twenty-first century,Serena writes a research ethics paper about the legacy of Philip Zimbardo.She considers his work and reputation over the 40 years since the Stanford Prison Experiment (1971)and concludes he was

A)an evil researcher whose credential should have been stripped,because no one should make an error such as he did.
B)a good researcher who recognized his mistake,and continued to work for decades on understanding authority and abuse.
C)a stubborn researcher who continued running prison experiments without oversight or IRB approval,despite the disapproval of his sociology peers.
D)simply following the norms of the time,and ethical breaches such as the harm to subjects in this study could not become apparent until years later.

Question 36

If a researcher was looking for ethical guidelines developed specifically by and for sociologists,she might look to

A)her university's Institutional Review Board.
B)the Nuremberg Code.
C)the American Sociological Association Code of Ethics.
D)the National Science Foundation.

Question 37

Linda writes a poem about the mayor of her town,including identifiable details.Linda's poem is NOT considered human subjects research because

A)poetry is not systematic;it is not designed to develop generalizable knowledge.
B)she is only "studying" one person,not a research sample of multiple persons.
C)her work does not fall within a social science discipline.
D)there is no risk of harm to the mayor.

Question 38

Before she conducted her research on Hurricane Katrina survivors,Mary Waters carefully considered whether the study would produce useful knowledge and whether her subjects would be traumatized by talking about the experience.Such an assessment of ________ and ________ is central to the IRB review process.

A)unethical elements;ethical elements
B)risks;benefits
C)known outcomes;unknown potential outcomes
D)past;future

Question 39

You are launching a sociology research project about elderly people in your community.You may need to use a consent form if

A)your project is not ethical.
B)you need a way to keep track of who participates in the study.
C)the project can be considered "research involving human subjects."
D)the harm potentially caused to participations could constitute an ethical problem.

Question 40

What is one lasting result of the National Research Act of 1974?

A)The reputations of Zimbardo,Humphreys,and Milgram have been denounced.
B)the establishment of IRBs at many institutions
C)required ethics courses in science majors
D)Serious diseases such as syphilis can only be studied by clinical researchers.

Question 41

In 2004 it was revealed that the Census Bureau had provided detailed data on Arab-Americans to the Department of Homeland Security.Which of the following is the MOST important "lesson learned" from that earlier situation?

A)Don't collect ethnic data on Americans in censuses.
B)Even when a research decision is technically ethical,it may still put people at risk.
C)It is never right to data-share within the same organization,in this case,the federal government.
D)Avoid agitating groups of people over issues of high sensitivity.

Question 42

For a nutrition class,Samir is conducting a study about quitting smoking.He notices the process of demand characteristics at play and worries it will bias the study findings.Research subjects are

A)overreporting their success in stopping smoking,because they think this is what the study wants to promote.
B)not coming at their scheduled a times because they fear the researcher will lecture and shame them about smoking.
C)demanding compensation for the study,because it is about a sensitive topic.
D)offering minimal information because they aren't confident the researcher really wants to listen.

Question 43

The Nuremberg Code established the principle that people must consent to be research subjects,and have the right to withdraw whenever they choose.Use this principle to analyze two of the following studies: the Tuskegee syphilis experiment,Laud Humphreys' Tearoom Trade,and the Zimbardo prison experiment.Explain how the study violated or upheld the Nuremberg Code principle.

Question 44

In the course of her study on drug use,Eileen finds many instances of criminal activity.She ensures her subjects confidentiality,because before the study began she received a(n)

A)IRB waiver.
B)human subjects research permission.
C)exemption for anonymity.
D)certificate of confidentiality.

Question 45

Herman is a U.S.Census statistician and notices that in one zip code there is only one Arab-American family in an otherwise white neighborhood.He chooses the statistical technique that will make the Arab-American family's presence in society noticeable,but not traceable to the actual zip code where they live.Herman chooses

A)suppression.
B)informed consent.
C)data swapping.
D)a certificate of confidentiality.

Question 46

Genetic material that is donated now could be relevant for an individual's health in the future.Which of the following do sociologists consider a realistic possibility for protecting people's health with regard to genetic data,years after the initial study?

A)pass a federal law requiring destruction of genetic data shortly after the initial study
B)do not create shared data sets with genetic data
C)de-identify the data immediately,so it won't be a problem in the future
D)re-contact subjects or their descendants when necessary

Question 47

In the course of his study on nursing homes,Inger inadvertently learned about specific instances of elder abuse.She had promised her subjects confidentiality,but

A)disciplinary codes of ethics instruct her to follow her conscience,even if it tells her to report the abuse.
B)in some states,she is required to report abuse,even if she learned it in the course of research.
C)confidentiality does not apply when a person asks for help.
D)she should have promised anonymity,because anonymity would remove the challenges of reporting.

Question 48

List and describe two advantages and two disadvantages of the IRB system.

Question 49

Give an example of a vulnerable population.What makes these people vulnerable as research subjects?

Question 50

As a student at your university,you wish to conduct a study about some element of your university.Briefly describe a sociological study that would include an inappropriate conflict of interest.What makes it inappropriate?

Question 51

An IRB has approved a study involving deception.After the interviews,the researcher tells the subjects that although they were interviewed about public speaking nervousness,the study was really about body language.Why would the researcher disclose this?

A)to resolve the researcher's conflict of interest
B)because subjects must be debriefed at the end of a study that involves deception
C)to avoid being found out later
D)Compliance with the certificate of authenticity is part of most IRB processes.

Question 52

The Belmont Report describes ethical practice with use of three principles.First,describe one general ethical principle shared by all three principles.Second,list the three principles and,for each one,briefly describe how it is distinctive (that is,unique and unlike the others).

Question 53

Create a study in which confidentiality is the highest protection possible.Why,in this study,is anonymity not possible?

Question 54

The Nuremberg Code established the principle that experiments should never be designed to harm participants.Use this principle to analyze two of the following studies: Nazi concentration camp experiments,the Tuskegee syphilis experiment,the Milgram obedience experiment,and the Zimbardo prison experiment.Explain how the study violated or upheld the Nuremberg Code principle.

Question 55

A new challenge in the era of big data is that,despite simple practices of de-identifying data,unique combinations of variables may be used to identify individuals.This reconstruction of data and its source is called

A)longitudinal research.
B)confidentiality.
C)digital reconstruction.
D)deductive disclosure.

Question 56

When the U.S.Census weighs risks and benefits of data release,statisticians sometimes determine that release of microdata risks harm to the individuals who could be identified.By not releasing certain data under these conditions,they practice

A)avoidance of deliberate harm.
B)suppression.
C)data swapping.
D)anonymizing.

Question 57

Define debriefing.Offer one reason why debriefing is likely sufficient for compensating for deception in research.Offer one reason why debriefing may not be sufficient for compensation for deception.

Question 58

Sociology professor Sudhir Venkatesh used deception in his ethnography of drug dealers (Gang Leader for a Day,2008).Why did he use deception? Why did some scholars think such deception was unethical? If you were Venkatesh,would you have used deception in the same way? Why or why not?

Question 59

Sociologist Mark Regnerus's research was funded by two conservative institutions,and its findings comported with the values of those institutions (that children raised by parents who ever had same-sex relationships had worse outcomes than others).Other sociologists questioned whether Regnerus

A)really submitted his proposal to an IRB,as he said he did.
B)debriefed participants so they knew the true purpose of the project.
C)ensured confidentiality for these children.
D)had a conflict of interest.