Re: Henson on the Nazi meme

From: Scott Chase (osteopilus@yahoo.com)
Date: Tue 29 Mar 2005 - 01:23:42 GMT

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    --- Bill Spight <bspight@pacbell.net> wrote:

    > Dear Scott,
    >
    > > I think I asked in a previous post about the
    > ethical
    > > considrations of such an experiment. If you were a
    > > researcher at a university in a psychology
    > department,
    > > would this be the sort of research that would pass
    > > ethics review? If you said you were going to go to
    > a
    > > high school and subject a class to such a
    > manipulation
    > > techniques would they ask: "You're going to do
    > what!?"
    > > Would a school board, high school prinicipal or
    > local
    > > PTA object to such a thing?
    >
    > I do not think such an experiment would pass the
    > ethics review today.
    >
    > And, in fact, since it seems that Jones only taught
    > one year at
    > Cubberly, his experiment may have raised ethical
    > questions at the time.
    > Apparently several parents were up in arms about it
    > while it was going on.
    >
    >
    After a quick glance at the ethics chapter in my copy of Paul Cozby's _Methods in Behavioral Research (5th ed.)_ I would wonder if the issue of informed consent might rear its head, if one were conducting this as formal research as a member of a university. And since we're talking about 10th graders can minors give informed consent or would each student need to have their parents sign a form? I vaguely recall needing forms signed when I went on field trips to a zoo or museum, though maybe that was in elementary school. Would parents need to be informed that their children
    (ie- under 18) might be subjected to research and if they opt out their children would have to do some alternative stuff while this "third wave" stuff was going on. That's assuming that a university ethics review board and the high school brass gave the OK.

    I'm totally guessing this one through here. I'm not familiar with American Psychological Assocation (APA) guidelines in these circumstances or what school authorities would allow in such cases.

    It is a good example in that ethics is an important detail to take in account when planning research, whether with humans or animals.

                    
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