Deck 4: Conducting Ethical Research

Question 1

One particularly strong counter-argument to claims of speciesism is the fact that:

A) harm against animal participants does not occur without IRB approval
B) many animal rights supporters use leather goods and/or eat meat
C) a lot of animal research directly benefits animals
D) equal protection is generally afforded both rats and primates that participate

Answer 1

a lot of animal research directly benefits animals

Question 2

All of the following are consistent with current APA ethical guidelines for research with human participants except the notion that:

A) informed consent should be obtained if the research setting is not benign
B) the researcher should be a trained expert in the topic area
C) confidentiality concerning the participant's results will be maintained
D) the researcher is obligated to undo any potential harm that comes to the participant during the study

Answer 2

the researcher should be a trained expert in the topic area

Question 3

Which of the following is inconsistent with current ethical principles for research with human participants?

A) Information about the nature of the experiment must be disclosed to participants.
B) Each participant can withdraw from research at any time for any reason.
C) Deception is always acceptable if it is explained to the participant later.
D) Participant records will remain confidential even if their data is published.
E) Researchers will protect participants from harmful conditions.

Answer 3

Deception is always acceptable if it is explained to the participant later.

Question 4

The view that animal research is somehow necessary for human progress has been called:

A) racism
B) stupidity
C) speciesism
D) bigotry

Question 5

A participant who elects to withdraw from a study in progress:

A) need not receive any compensation for their time
B) represents a violation of their signed consent
C) should not do so unless there is a concern for his/her own well-being
D) can choose to do so for any reason whatsoever

Question 6

Choose the rarest circumstance below.

A) Participants are given complete information about what they will be asked to do.
B) A cover story is provided to control the reactivity of participants.
C) Information is omitted about an important aspect of the test.
D) Participants are told that they can end their participation without consequences.

Question 7

One important principle advocated by the American Psychological Association is the right of informed consent,which states that the experimenter has a clear obligation to:

A) obtain approval from a committee that judges the ethics of the proposed research before performing an experiment involving human participants
B) balance the potential worth of the research against the potential harm to the participants prior to doing the experiment
C) explain to the participants all salient features of the research before the experiment is done so the participants have the opportunity to decline to participate
D) inform the participants of the results of the research prior to publication of a journal article

Question 8

Assume that you will be participating in a study within your methods class in partial fulfillment of course requirements.Of the following,what action should you expect the researcher/instructor to do?

A) penalize students who fail to participate
B) offer alternative means to meet the course requirements
C) only make participation count for "extra" credit
D) restrict the study to one that has no risks to participants

Question 9

A researcher using animal subjects has an obligation to:

A) engage in speciesism
B) avoid the use of deception
C) use only innocuous independent variables
D) use humane treatment

Question 10

Surveys and reviews of common rationales for animal research,including the extent of use of animal participants,reveal that there:

A) is a sharp decline in professional support for animal work
B) are decreasing numbers of animals used in research
C) is a disagreement between APA members and undergraduate majors on the appropriateness of animal research
D) is a majority in support of different standards of federal protection for primates and "lower" animals,such as rats

Question 11

Animal research has directly led to the development of human treatments for:

A) depression
B) eating disorders
C) phobias
D) drug addiction
E) all of the above areas

Question 12

Which behavior below is the most questionable in terms of the APA ethical guidelines for research with human participants?

A) Not obtaining informed consent for a study with minimal chance for harm,a guarantee of maintained confidentiality,and an absence of legal liability
B) Delaying debriefing of participants until the data collection phase of a project is complete
C) Failing to indicate deception to the participant at the time of consent
D) Offering very large incentives in exchange for participation

Question 13

Which statement below is true regarding the removal of research participants from harmful consequences?

A) Researchers are required to resolve potential resentment by participants.
B) Participants must leave the lab with neither overly positive nor negative feelings.
C) Researchers are only required to have participants sign a form saying that they feel alright to leave the laboratory.
D) It is acceptable to detain a participant longer than scheduled to ensure safety.

Question 14

Pain stimuli are used in animal research:

A) whenever they can potentially result in a theoretical contribution to the literature
B) in the majority of conducted studies
C) only after substantial deliberation by both the researcher(s)and the IRB
D) only when potential benefits at least equal the harm caused to the animal

Question 15

Which of the following perspectives is least likely to be endorsed by an animal-rights supporter?

A) Animal research neglects the natural rights of other species.
B) Animal research is dehumanizing to the scientist.
C) Animals feel pain,as do humans,and the research inflicts suffering on animals
D) It may be acceptable to conduct animal research if that is the only option and the outcomes of the research are expected to be extremely helpful to both humans and the animals

Question 16

Which statement below is true regarding ethical practices in psychological research?

A) Breaches of confidentiality cannot be justified.
B) The responsibility for ethical practice belongs not only to the researcher,but also the IRB,and even the journal editor(s).
C) Ethical decisions should never be based on practicality.
D) Ethical violations have traditionally been a mark of good research.

Question 17

Of the choices below,the best example of a "willing" participant is:

A) a prisoner given extra privileges in exchange for their participation
B) a person enlisted in the Army who is directed to participate by a superior officer
C) a student who is participating in partial fulfillment of course requirements
D) a person who is responding to an advertisement for paid participation

Question 18

According to the current APA ethical guidelines,which statement below about informed consent is true?

A) If voice recordings are acquired without a participant's awareness,informed consent can be obtained after the fact.
B) Participants do not always need to be told about possible risks in advance of their participation.
C) Participants do not need to be told how their confidentiality will be maintained.
D) Researchers always have to obtain informed consent.

Question 19

Induction of a depressive mood in participants:

A) is unethical and should never be done.
B) is frequently offset by subsequent induction of a happy mood
C) does not pose a concern for researchers after participants give consent
D) is sufficiently temporary that it should not concern the researcher

Question 20

Experiments involving deception:

A) probably should not be done on ethical grounds
B) should be carefully considered,since aftercare of the participant would be impossible to obtain
C) obligates the researcher to explain the true nature of the experiment after the participant has been tested
D) should only be conducted with infrahuman subjects

Question 21

Which statement below about an Institutional Review Board (IRB)is false?

A) One member of the IRB must be from a nonscientific area.
B) One member of the IRB must not be affiliated with the institution.
C) Cost-benefit analyses by the IRB are not the same for studies deemed to be of minimal risk.
D) All members of the IRB must have expertise that concerns special populations since they are often the target of research projects.

Question 22

Current APA ethical guidelines concerning euthanasia of animal participants:

A) prohibit its use
B) do not require additional training in the employed euthanasia method
C) require that the animal's pain be minimized
D) make no stipulation about the methods that can be used

Question 23

One of the major goals of debriefing is simply to inform the participant about the study.

Question 24

One argument against using animals in research is that it is dehumanizing to the human scientist.

Question 25

The ethical investigator respects the participant's right to decline to serve in the study or to withdraw at any time,as long as the purposes of the research are not undermined.

Question 26

According to current APA ethical guidelines for research involving animal participants,pain and discomfort can ethically occur only in the absence of an alternative procedure and if there is a justification for the research in terms of its value on ____ grounds.

A) scientific
B) educational
C) Applied
D) all of the above

Question 27

The responsibility to determine and prevent scientific fraud lies with:

A) the individual researcher
B) the Institutional Review Board (IRB)
C) the granting agency
D) all of the above

Question 28

Adherence to one ethical principle rarely leads to the violation of another.

Question 29

It is reasonable and standard practice to share with a participant his/her individual results during debriefing.

Question 30

All of the following represent major APA ethical guidelines for research conducted with animals except:

A) the guarantee to protect and remove the animal from harmful consequences.
B) the need for a trained supervisor.
C) the guarantee that euthanasia will be rapid and painless,if it is required.
D) the fact that acquisition,care,and disposal of animals must be handled within the law.

Question 31

Animal welfare supporters want to end animal research.

Question 32

It is critical that confidentiality regarding a participant's performance always be maintained,even when it may conflict with another ethical principle.

Question 33

The animal rights position on the sanctity of animal life is not a testable hypothesis.

Question 34

Scientific fraud:

A) generally does not occur with enough frequency to warrant much concern
B) is committed each time an error is reported in the literature
C) is a type of deliberate bias by the scientist
D) cannot be detected by replication work

Question 35

The textbook depicts the "Piltdown Man",which was based on a 1912 report of a humanoid-like skull with an apelike jawbone (and thus,a potential find of the "missing link"),as a likely case of ____.

A) plagiarism
B) idea plagiarism
C) forging data
D) replication

Question 36

The case of Sir Cyril Burt,where identical correlations were obtained across studies,is discussed in your textbook as a likely example of:

A) data fudging
B) deliberately choosing not to report data that is incompatible with the researcher's theoretical perspective
C) idea plagiarism
D) exclusion of scientific fraud via replication

Question 37

A researcher decides to do a study that closely follows a design that is suggested by a colleague,but does not include the colleague as a co-author or cite him/her for the suggestion.This situation can most accurately be described as a case of:

A) replication
B) idea plagiarism
C) "cooking" data
D) ethical behavior

Question 38

Pain stimuli can be ethically administered to animal research participants as long as the pain is minimized,there are no adequate alternative stimuli available,and the project has been deemed scientifically justified by the IRB.

Question 39

In some instances it is necessary and appropriate for the researcher to withhold relevant information about an experiment when obtaining consent from the participant.

Question 40

Which of the following can most accurately be described as an example of "cooking" data?

A) a researcher repeats a previous study as closely as possible
B) a researcher changes a few numbers to be more consistent with hypotheses
C) a researcher "borrows" an idea from another colleague for his/her study
D) a researcher copies the results section of an old paper into a current submission

Question 41

Most universities have special boards that judge the ethicality of proposed research.

Question 42

The APA annually reviews,and then publishes the resulting evaluation of,ethical complaints.

Question 43

Fraud is another example of inadvertent researcher bias.

Question 44

Institutional review boards are an optional way that most universities use to monitor ethical practices.

Question 45

Scientific fraud is often detected by means of attempting to replicate the research in question.