Reference no: EM132625880

Research Ethics

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Read through the methodology of the proposed research study (below). Then answer a few questions about the type of research being conducted and the ethics of this particular study. Remember to base the ethical approval/disapproval of the study on the APA guidelines for research, not your personal opinion of whether this topic should be studied.

Proposed Research Study Methods:

The research will involve 36 high school students between the ages of 16 and 18 who have volunteered to participate in a research project investigating "beliefs and attitudes of today's high school students." Participants will be assigned to four-person discussion groups. Each person in the group will be given the same 20 questions to answer; however, they will be asked to discuss each question with members of the group before writing down their answers. Four of the 20 questions deal with alcohol consumption by teenagers and with possible actions that might be taken to reduce teenage drinking and driving. One member of the group will be appointed discussion leader by the principal investigator. Unknown to the participants, they will be assigned randomly to one of three groups. In each group, there will be either zero, one, or two students who are actually working for the principal investigator. Each of these confederates has received prior instructions from the investigator regarding what to say during the group discussion of the critical questions about teenage drinking. Specifically, confederates have been asked to follow a script. The script presents the argument that most people who reach the legal driving age (16) and all individuals who are old enough (18) to vote in national elections and serve in the armed forces are old enough to make their own decisions about drinking alcohol. The script goes on to argue that it is up to each individual to make this decision about drinking alcohol and that other individuals do not have the right to intervene if someone under the legal age chooses to drink alcohol. Each of the confederates "admits" to drinking alcohol on at least two previous occasions. Thus, the experimental manipulation involves either zero, one, or two persons in the four-person groups suggesting they do not believe students have the responsibility to avoid situations where alcohol is served to minors or to intervene when someone chooses to drink and drive. The effect of this argument on the written answers given by the actual participants in this experiment will be evaluated. The researchers plan to make tape recordings of the sessions with out participants' knowledge, and the contents of these tapes will be analyzed. Following the experiment, the nature of the deception and the reasons for making the tape recordings of the discussion will be explained to the participants.

Questions:

1. Identify the type of research (i.e. experimental or non-experimental? Survey? Etc.) that is being proposed in the study and describe how you came to that conclusion.
2. Define and briefly describe the four important ethical guidelines given by the APA in your textbook.
3. Describe in detail why the proposed study's methods are/are not ethical based on the APA guidelines. Would you approve this research to be conducted?