discuss each of the 5 research scenarios below (A-E). What are the ethical concerns that must be addressed in each of the situations described?

Scenario A

If a researcher said and carried out what is indicated below, would this be ethical?

"There is no need to tell any of the parents that we are modifying the school lunch diet for this study."

Scenario B

If a researcher said the following, would this be ethical?

"We are required to ask you to sign this consent form. You needn't read it; it's just routine."

Scenario C

If a researcher said and did the following, would this be ethical?

"A few cases seemed quite different from the rest, so we deleted them from the data."

Scenario D

Is there an ethical problem in this situation?

A professional sex therapist in a large city is interested in obtaining more information about the sexual preferences of both heterosexual and homosexual men. The therapist designs a questionnaire that includes several highly personal questions and asks a professor at a nearby university to administer it to the students in her introductory psychology class. All the students in the class are required to complete the questionnaire.

Scenario E

The spread of AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) brought about a considerable amount of research into the effectiveness of various drugs that control the disease. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration restricted the distribution of these drugs until they were clinically tested. During the tests, some AIDS patients would receive these drugs (the experimental group) while others (the control group) would not. Members of the control group received a placebo. AIDS patients strongly objected, saying this was unethical.

Were they justified in doing so? Why or why not? Was there an ethical dilemma here?

Scenario A

If a researcher said and carried out what is indicated below, would this be ethical?

"There is no need to tell any of the parents that we are modifying the school lunch diet for this study."

Comments: This would be viewed as an unethical practice. In most cases, parents of school- aged children should be informed of changes to the school environment that could impact their children. Some parents might have legitimate concerns about changes to the school lunch diet.

There may be exceptions to the need for parental consent. For example, imagine the scenario where high school students belong to a gay-straight alliance group. If there was a study being conducted about this, the researchers might not be required to seek parental consent.

Scenario B

If a researcher said the following, would this be ethical?

"We are required to ask you to sign this consent form. You needn't read it; it's just routine."

Comments: A researcher should not say something like this; it is unethical. It amounts to asking participants to give their consent without being properly informed of the nature of the study.

Scenario C

If a researcher said and did the following, would this be ethical?

"A few cases seemed quite different from the rest, so we deleted them from the data."

Comments: This situation is unethical. It goes against norms for professional conduct of researchers to knowingly falsify or exclude data from a study. The results or conclusions of the study may be altered significantly by excluding the data without including a justification for this exclusion in the research report. Sometimes there may be a valid reason for excluding data (e.g., an error or irregularity in measurement) - however, the researcher must be transparent about excluding data. It is not productive for the global body of research to have misleading results published in the literature, which could potentially impact future research and the application of research findings in society.

Scenario D

Is there an ethical problem in this situation?

A professional sex therapist in a large city is interested in obtaining more information about the sexual preferences of both heterosexual and homosexual men. The therapist designs a questionnaire that includes several highly personal questions and asks a professor at a nearby university to administer it to the students in her introductory psychology class. All the students in the class are required to complete the questionnaire.

Comments: It is unethical to require individuals to participate in a research study when they are students in a course. Students must have the opportunity to give their informed consent and decide whether they wish to participate. Grades in a course cannot be tied to enforced research participation. Students must always be able to opt out of the research and get any allocated marks via some different learning activity.

Scenario E

The spread of AIDS (acquired immune-deficiency syndrome) has brought about a considerable amount of research into the effectiveness of various drugs that control the disease. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) restricted the distribution of these drugs until they were clinically tested. During the tests, some AIDS patients received these drugs (the experimental group) while others (the control group) did not. Some members of the control group received a placebo. AIDS patients strongly objected, saying this was unethical.

Were they justified in doing so? Why or why not? Was there an ethical dilemma here?

Comments: This is truly an ethical dilemma. The USFDA must ensure that any new drug is adequately tested before widespread use can be allowed. On the other side of this dilemma, seriously ill patients have the right to treatments that will improve or prolong their lives. The USFDA is responsible for protecting the public - drugs that are not adequately tested may eventually prove to have serious side effects that could negatively impact people on a widespread basis. There was probably no way to make this situation ideal for everyone. Researchers would have informed all participants at the beginning that they may be selected for the actual pill or a placebo, and participants who consented would be agreeing to that risk. Some studies use the wait-list approach, which promises to make the treatment available to the control group after data collection for the experimental group has been completed. Proper scientific testing of drugs is vital to advance the world's medical knowledge on how to treat illnesses. In the long run, more people will be likely be helped if proper testing is done, and this may mean initially worse outcomes for some people who were not selected to be in the experimental group.