Transcript Ethics in Social Research - Washington State University

Ethics in Criminology Research
Ethical behavior (definition)
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Behavior is ethical insofar as it follows the
rules that have been specifically oriented to
the welfare of the larger society and not to the
self-interest of the professional
To act unethically is to act unprofessionally
Ethical Horror Stories
Dr. Josef Mengele (“Angel of Death”)
 Nazi doctor
 In the name of medical research, people were
infected with diseases
 New drugs have been tested
 Administered poisons
 Exposed to extreme
temperatures and decompression
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Ethical Horror Stories
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Josef Mengele did a number of medical experiments,
using twins
These twins as young as five years of age were
usually murdered after the experiment was over and
their bodies dissected
Mengele injected chemicals into the eyes of the
children in an attempt to change their eye color
He stitched twins together, castrated or sterilized
twins. Many twins had limbs and organs removed in
macabre surgical procedures, performed without
using an anesthetic.
Josef Mengele
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Josef Mengele and the other camp doctors masterminds of the horrors of Holocaust were found to be psychologically normal.
They were men of fine standing, cultured,
husbands who morning and night kissed their
wives, fathers who tucked their children into
bed ...
Tuskegee Syphilis Study
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In 1932, the Public Health Service, working
with the Tuskegee Institute, began a study that
was called the "Tuskegee Study of Untreated
Syphilis in the Negro Male."
Tuskegee Syphilis Study
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The study involved 600 black men--399 with
syphilis and 201 who did not have the disease
Researchers told the men they were being treated
for "bad blood," a local term used to describe several
ailments, including syphilis, anemia, and fatigue. In
truth, they did not receive the proper treatment
needed to cure their illness
In exchange for taking part in the study, the men
received free medical exams, free meals, and burial
insurance. Although originally projected to last 6
months, the study actually went on for 40 years.
Tuskegee Syphilis Study
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As reported by the New York Times on 26 July
1972, the Tuskegee Syphilis Study was
revealed as "the longest nontherapeutic
experiment on human beings in medical
history.”
All of the subjects died eventually
Subjects did not suspect that no one cured
them
Study was sponsored by government
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During the 1940s, 800 pregnant women, the
poor patrons of a pre-natal clinic at Vanderbilt
University, were given a "cocktail" including
a tracer dose of radioactive iron
The objective of the experiment was to
determine the iron requirements of pregnant
women
Incidents of malignancies in the children of
the women subjected.
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At the Fernald School in Massachusetts during the
1950s, in experiments conducted in part by
researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, mentally retarded boys in the school's
"science club" were fed radioactive calcium and iron
with their breakfast cereal. Boys who agreed to
participate received club privileges, including extra
milk and trips to baseball games and the beach.
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In a long-running experiment at the University of
Cincinnati, ended in 1971, 88 poor, uneducated and
mostly African-American patients with incurable
cancers were exposed to heavy doses of full-body
irradiation -- a procedure that was largely abandoned
as therapy by the 1960s. Lawsuits still in court allege
that the subjects, some of whom died hours after
treatment, were not provided palliatives against the
side effects of nausea and vomiting because the
researchers did not want the drugs to interfere with
their data collection.
Other examples
In 1960’s live cancer cells were injected into
elderly patients at a Brooklyn hospital without
their knowledge (Jones, 1982)
 U.S. military services exposed
their own soldiers to mustard gas
and radiation (chronic ailments
and death)
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Other examples
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Senator John D. Rockefeller
issued a report revealing that for at least 50
years the Department of Defense has used
hundreds of thousands of military personnel
in human experiments and for intentional
exposure to dangerous substances(mustard
and nerve gas, ionizing radiation,
psychochemicals, hallucinogens, and drugs
used during the Gulf War)
Cold War Experiments
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American Intelligence agencies believed that
the Communists developed secret mind
control/brainwashing techniques
This explains, but does not condone, the
following abuses:
Cold War Experiments
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1950’s, using code names like
Bluebird, Artichoke, the CIA, FBI, and U.S.
military experimented with behavior-control
devices and interrogation techniques (drugs,
hypnosis, shock therapy, surgery, radiation) on
unsuspecting citizens
If death or injury occurred these agencies
provided cover-up
House Energy and Commerce
Subcommittee (1986)
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Uncovered that during 30 years federal agencies had
conducted exposure experiments on American
citizens
Injecting plutonium, radium, and uranium
Feeding uranium to elderly patients during an
experiment at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology
Feeding patients real fallout from a Nevada test site
U.S. Military employed former Nazi doctors
/scientists for conducting the experiments
The Nuremberg Code
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Voluntary consent
Fruitful results for the good of society
Anticipated results will justify the performance of
experiment
Avoid all unnecessary physical or mental suffering
No research should be conducted where there is
…reason to believe that death or disabling injury
will occur
The degree of risk to be taken should never exceed
that determined by the humanitarian importance of
the problem to be solved
The Nuremberg Code
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Proper preparation should be made-protect the
research subjects against injure, or death
Research should be conducted only by scientifically
qualified persons
During research the subjects should be at liberty to
bring the research to the end
Research must be ready to terminate the research at
any stage if there is possibility to hurt research
subjects
Social Science Experiments
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Social research might also put subjects at risk
Three social scientific studies are cited most
often
Laud Humphrey’s “Tearoom Trade” (1970)
Stanley Milgram’s “Obedience to Authority”
(1974)
Philip Zimbardo’s simulated prison
experiment (1972-1974)
Zimbardo’s simulated prison
experiment
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Subjects –males, undergraduate, paid
volunteers
Role of either guard or prisoner
Mock prison was constructed in the basement
of Stanford university
Experiment was to have lasted for two weeks
but Zimbardo cancelled the study after 6 days
because of possible harm
What went wrong?
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Individuals became carried away with their roles
Guards behaved aggressively and dehumanizing
toward prisoners
Prisoners behaved ether passively or were hostile
Subjects did consent to participate in the study, but
they did not expect the consequences
Stanley Milgram’s “Obedience to Authority” (1974)
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Psychologist at Yale University, conducted a study
focusing on the conflict between obedience to
authority and personal conscience
Germans are different
Character flaw “Readiness to obey authority without
question, no matter what outrageous acts authority
commands”
Everything in the experiment was staged except one
person-subject
Milgram changed a lot in his initial script because
people were obeying too much
Experiment
“Learner” is taken to a room
where he is strapped in a chair to
prevent movement and an electrode
is placed on his arm.
The "teacher" is instructed to read a list of two word
pairs and ask the "learner" to read them back. "learner"
gets the answer wrong, the "teacher" is supposed to
shock the "learner" starting at 15 volts.
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Experiment
The generator has 30 switches
ranging from "slight shock" to
"danger: severe shock“
The final two switches are labeled "XXX“
The "teacher" automatically is supposed to increase the
shock each time the "learner" misses a word in the list.
Although the "teacher" thought that he/she was
administering shocks to the "learner", the "learner" is
actually a student or an actor who is never actually
harmed.
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Results
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"two-thirds of this studies participants fall into the
category of ‘obedient' subjects, and that they
represent ordinary people drawn from the working,
managerial, and professional classes
65% of all of the "teachers" punished the "learners"
to the maximum 450 volts
No subject stopped before reaching 300 volts
The theory that only the most severe monsters on
the sadistic fringe of society would submit to such
cruelty is disclaimed
Ethical issues of Milgram’s experiment
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Milgram made a judgment about there is no
possible psychological damage to the subjects
Milgram interviewed subjects afterwards
83% said they were glad to participate
1.3% said they were sorry
However, Milgram could not know that only
1.3% would be sorry