Dynamics and Demands of Experimental Research: Beyond Milgram

1
Dynamics and Demands of Experimental Research
Beyond Milgram

• APS Workshop on Human Research Protections
• Karen Hegtvedt, Ph.D.
• Emory University

2
Why was the Milgram study (1963) pivotal?

• Role-playing experiment in which the teacher
  delivered shocks to the learner
• Experiment involved dramatic deception
• Criticism focused on
• extreme psychological stress
• lack of informed consent
• Consequences
• emphasis on harms other than physical
• IRB guidelines on deception

3
What constitutes experimental research? (Meeker
Leik, 1995)

• Involves the controlled creation and comparison
  of two or more conditions
• Types, of various designs
• laboratory (with and without deception)
• e.g., exchange networks, expectation states
• field
• e.g., Head Start Family Impact Project, Seattle
  Income Maintenance Experiment

4
What are key concerns for protecting
participants?

• Knowledge that one is a subject
• Deception
• Misuse of incentives
• Possible harm or stress
• Issues affect
• recruitment
• informed consent
• debriefing

5
Being a subject

• More characteristic of field research
• especially that involving observation
• Disallows informed consent but risks typically
  low
• Cautions
• researcher must ensure protections

6
Deception

• Involves intentionally misleading subjects or
  withholding information about the study
• Interferes with participants ability to give
  informed consent
• Requires staged disclosure of information

7
If using deception, how can researcher get IRB
approval?

• Deception is sometimes necessary for some types
  of behavioral inquiry
• Use must be scientifically and ethically
  justified
• Approval requires that
• missing information does not increase the risks
  of the study
• after study, participants are fully debriefed

8
What does debriefing involve?

• Full revelation of the purpose of the study
• Explanation of manipulations
• Re-assurance that deceptive information has no
  bearing on the participants own skills,
  character
• Recognizing signs of distress providing remedies
• Opportunity to drop out of study

9
Misuse of incentives

• Participation in experiments typically enticed
  by payment or improved therapy/treatment
• Enticements do NOT constitute benefits
• May appear as coercive mechanisms
• Guidelines
• separation of compensation from benefits
• clear statement that there may be no improvements

10
Possible harm or stress

• Physical harm (usually unlikely)
• Psychological harm
• threats to self esteem
• dissonance
• Emotional distress
• embarrassment
• depression
• anxiety
• Stigma or loss of status

11
Further issues

• General
• judging benefit if generalizability at issue
• sample variables that interact with ethical
  issues of experimentation
• Field experiments
• use of control groups
• program evaluation (technically exempt)
• Laboratory experiments
• subject pools and student subjects

12
Have we gone beyond Milgram?

• Professional ethical guidelines
• IRB reviews
• Yet, in the pursuit of internal validity,
  reminders of the debate over deception the
  calamity of coercion must remain robust