Responsible and Ethical

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Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research
with Ethnocultural Populations Joseph E.
Trimble, PhD Center for Cross-Cultural
Research Department of Psychology Western
Washington University
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Theme
Never look for a psychological explanation
unless every effort to find a cultural one has
been exhausted. - Margaret Mead (1959, p. 16)
quoting William Fielding Ogburn, one of her
mentors at Columbia University
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The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment
"The United States government did something that was wrong, deeply, profoundly, morally wrong. Its an outrage to our commitment to integrity and equality for all our citizens... clearly racist. President Clinton's apology for the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment to the eight remaining survivors, May 16, 1997
Peter Buxtun, a former Public Health Service
employee.
Tuskegee Institute
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(No Transcript)
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Truths, Half-Truths in Cross-Cultural Psychology
Darkness in El Dorado How Scientists and
Journalists Devastated the Amazon Patrick
Tierney (2001) The Ax Fight Timothy Asch
Napoleon Chagnon (1989)  
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Where does one set the limits on research
involving human subjects?
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A sample of community concerns and problems with
researchers expressed by a variety of ethnic
minority community members

• People have been persuaded to participate in
  research in which they did not fully understand
  the nature of the risks and benefits
• Research was conducted which did not
  respect the basic human dignity of the
  individual participants or their religious
  and cultural beliefs
• Researchers have been interested in our
• people as an isolated or pure gene
• pool to be used for laboratory purposes,
• demeaning the dignity of the people and
• the community

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A sample of community concerns and problems with
researchers expressed by a variety of ethnic
minority community members?

• Researchers have taken cultural information out
  of context and, have published conclusions that
  were factually incorrect
• Researchers have sensationalized community,
  family, and individual problems and released
  publications heedless of their impact on our
  communitys legitimate political and social
  interests
• Despite promises that research would benefit our
  community, researchers have failed or refused to
  follow through on promised benefits and
• Researchers have failed to respect cultural
  beliefs and practices of our community in their
  research methods.
• (adapted from American Indian Law Center,
  1999)

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Ethical Considerations and Responsibilitiesto
the Population Under Study

• Attention must be given to avoid actions,
  procedures, interactive styles, etc. that violate
  local customs and cultural understandings of the
  community.
• Sensitivity and attention should be
• given to the cultural ethos and eidos
• of the community in every phase of the
• research.
• (adapted from Tapp, Kelman, Triandis,
  Wrightsman, Coelho, 1974)

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Ethical Considerations and Responsibilitiesto
the Population Under Study (Continue)

• Research efforts should take all steps to insure
  informed consent and to avoid invasion of
  privacy. Concept of consent, confidentiality, and
  volunteerism may have to be phrased in the
  context of the culture of the community.

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Ethical Considerations and Responsibilitiesto
the Population Under Study (Continue)

• The research should not have,
• as a latent agenda, the
• transmission of information or
• the modification of attitudes
• and behavior unless the
• agenda is consistent with
• the projects goals.

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Ecology of Lives Approach

• Ecosystems approaches call for principled
  cultural sensitivity, a sensitivity based on
  respect for whom research and interventions are
  intended and which would prohibit interventions
  that violate cultural norms.
• The goal of research and intervention is
• community development where the project
• is constructed in such a way that it
• becomes a resource to the community.
• Unless one cares about how lives are
• led locally such a goal would be difficult
• if not impossible to achieve.

(Trickett, Kelly, Vincent, 1985)
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Ecology of Lives Approach (Continue)

• Emphasis placed on the importance of culture as
  an historical and contemporary aspect of the
  framework within which individuals appraise their
  situation and their options.
• Focus on the community
• context as the stage within
• which individual behavior
• occurs.

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Ecology of Lives Approach (Continue)

• A focus on the ecology of lives approach and
  designing research and interventions at the
  community level suggest a long term commitment to
  the locale as part of the process.
• One-shot or safari approaches
• to community based research
• would be discouraged including
• the low probability that such an
• approach would leave a positive
• residual after the project ends or
• the grant money runs out.

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The Goodness of Fit Model

• The Model advocates doing good well
• where the researcher and the
• team are virtuous people who
• embody values and beliefs
• that the community finds
• acceptable.
• The Model views scientist and
• participant alike as moral
• agents joined
• in a partnership
• (after Fisher Ragsdale, 2005)

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The Goodness of Fit Model (Continue)

• To accomplish a partnership one should ask
• What are the special life circumstances that
  render participants more susceptible to research
  risk?
• Which aspects of the design,
• implementation, or dissemination
• may create or exacerbate research risk?
• How can research and ethical
• procedures be fitted to participant
• characteristics to reduce vulnerability?

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The Goodness of Fit Model (Continue)

• The Model moves multicultural ethics further by
  posing the following value based questions
• Do the values embodied in current codes and
  regulations reflect the moral visions of
  different ethnocultural groups selected for a
  study?
• Do scientists and participants
• have different conceptions of
• research risks and benefits?

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The Virtuous and Responsible Researcher

• Virtue ethics involves our whole way of living
  where good and bad are viewed as personal
  qualities.
• To be a virtuous researcher one
• must be self-regulatory and
• self-reflective and at the same
• time abide by normative
• professional ethics
• (Maera Day, 2003).

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The Virtuous and Responsible Researcher

• Virtuous characteristics
• Prudence
• Integrity
• Respectfulness
• Benevolence

• Reverence
• Trustworthiness
• (after Maera Day, 2003 Richardson, 2003
  Woodruff, 2003)

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Relational Methodology
Carol Gilligan (1982 2003) - one component of
morality is that people have responsibilities to
wards others a truly moral person must care for
the welfare and dignity of others. The
nurturance of a responsible relationship will
influence what people tell you the deeper and
more felt the relationship the greater the
likelihood that one will tell you what they
really think -- and that is the essence of
relational methodology.
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Guidelines for Indigenous Populations
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Guidelines for Indigenous Populations
Ms Erica-Irene Daes, Chairperson-Rapporteur of
the United Nations Working Group of Indigenous
Populations, remarked that Heritage can never
be alienated, surrendered or sold, except for
conditional use. Sharing therefore creates a
relationship between the givers and receivers of
knowledge. The givers retain the authority to
ensure that knowledge is used properly and the
receivers continue to recognize and repay the
gift. At every stage, research with and about
Indigenous peoples must be founded on a process
of meaningful engagement and reciprocity between
the researcher and the Indigenous people.
(AIATSIS, 2000. Guidelines for Ethical Research
in Indigenous Studies. Canberra, Australia.)
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Indigenous peoples defend their cultural
property
By focusing on the complexity of actual cases,
Brown casts light on indigenous claims in diverse
fields--religion, art, sacred places, and
botanical knowledge. He finds both genuine
injustice and, among advocates for native
peoples, a troubling tendency to mimic the
privatizing logic of major corporations.
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The Voices of the People
I had this feeling of being violated and
betrayed, then I went into shock, and then I got
angry.and then I went into denial. I thought,
oh well they dont know who I am. I was just a
research subject. After I participated in the
study, I had no idea or didnt even realize what
all it was going to entail in the future. And
then I come to find out that all the results have
been shared through journal articles and
publications. The realization for me was Oh my
god, Ive been abused and violated because I had
no idea that they would talk about us like that.
Now weve been labeled like were just a bunch of
people walking around with diseases on
reservations (Casillas, 2006, p. 73).
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The Voices of the People
Descendants of some of the participants in the
Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment said ''I'm angry
about it, very, very angry about it,'' said
Carmen Head, whose grandfather, Freddie Lee
Tyson, participated in the study. ''It's a
painful issue in my family.'' ''It was something
to be ashamed of, so it wasn't talked about,''
said Mrs. Lillie Head, whose father was one of
the participants. She said that, 'we were really
very disturbed after we found out my father was a
part of it''. You get treated like lepers,
said Albert Julkes, whose father was a
participant. People think its the scourge of
the earth to have it in your family. He goes on
to say, It was one of the worse atrocities ever
reaped on people by the Government. You dont
treat dogs that way (Toon, 1997, p. 1).
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The principle that underlies problems of ethics
is respecting the humanity of others as one would
have others respect ones own. If field
(researchers) genuinely feel such respect for
others, they are not likely to get into serious
trouble. But if they do not feel such respect,
then no matter how scrupulously they follow the
letter of the written codes of professional
ethics, or follow the recommended procedures of
field (research) manuals, they will betray
themselves all along the line in the little
things - Ward H. Goodenough (1980, p. 52)
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Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research
with Ethnocultural Populations Joseph E.
Trimble, PhD Center for Cross-Cultural
Research Department of Psychology Western
Washington University