The Ethics and Politics of Social Research

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Chapter 3

• The Ethics and Politics of Social Research

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Ethical Issues in Social Research

1. Voluntary participation
2. No harm to participants
3. Anonymity and confidentiality

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Ethical Issues in Social Research

1. Deception must be justified by compelling
   scientific concerns.
2. Researchers must be honest about their findings
   and research.

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Ethical Issues in Social Research

• Institutional Review Boards
• Review research proposals involving humans so
  they can guarantee the rights and interests are
  protected.
• Professional Codes of Ethics
• Most professional associations have formal codes
  of conduct that describe acceptable and
  unacceptable professional behavior.

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Ethical ControversyLaud Humphreys (1970)

• Study of homosexual behavior in public restrooms.
• Lied to participants by telling them he was a
  voyeur-participant.
• Traced participants to their home and interviewed
  them under false pretenses.

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Ethical Controversy Stanley Milgram (1960)

• Study of human obedience.
• Subjects had role of "teacher" and administered a
  shock to "pupils".
• Pupils were actually part of the experiment.

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Ethics and Politics of Social Research

• Ethics deals mostly with methods used in
  research.
• Politics deals with the substance and use of
  research.
• There are no formal codes of accepted political
  conduct.

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Project Camelot

• Proposed research project concerning the topic of
  internal war within a nation.
• The project was canceled and dismantled.
• Science is neutral on topics of war and peace,
  scientists are not.

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Politics in Perspective

• Science is not untouched by politics.
• Science proceeds in the midst of political
  controversy and hostility.
• Examples Global Warming Autism research

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Politics in Perspective

1. Awareness of ideologies enriches the study and
   practice of social research methods.
2. While researchers should not let their values
   interfere with their research, this does not mean
   that researchers should not express both their
   scientific expertise and personal values.

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Extra Credit

• Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative
• www.citiprogram.org
• Register your information (free for faculty,
  staff and students of member institutions)
• Take the modules for the Social Sciences
• Take the quizzes for each module (must score a
  70 to pass each module).
• Print CITI Certificate and hand in at the
  beginning of class, May 8th
• Replace 1 homework grade or 5 on 1 exam

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Is It Ethical?

• To be strategic in your relations with others?
• To talk to people when they don't know you will
  be recording their words?

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Is It Ethical?

• To "pay" people with tradeoffs for access to
  their lives and minds?
• To "use" people as allies or informants in order
  to gain entrée to other people or to elusive
  understandings?

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Other Examples

• Stanford Prison Experiment
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vFkmQZjZSjk4
• Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment
• http//www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/timeline.htm