research ethics examples

["violet horvath" <vehorvat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

There are a couple of movies I recommend with regard to research ethics.  The first is "Quiet Rage: The Stanford Prison Study" (50 minutes) about Zimbardo's prison simulation.  The second is "The Deadly Deception" (60 minutes) which is another movie about the Tuskeegee syphllis study.  I showed both of these in the research methods for social work class I taught this summer.

Here is a list of the articles we read:
Rubin, A., & Babbie, E. (2001). The ethics and politics of social work research (Chapter 4). In A. Rubin & E. Babbie, Research Methods for Social Work (4th ed.) (pp. 72-104). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company.

Jayaratne, S., Croxton, T., & Mattison, D. (1999).Social work professional standards: An exploratory study. In S.A. Kirk (Ed.), Social Work Research Methods (pp. 400-415). Washington, D.C.: NASW Press.

NASW Code of Ethics. (You can substitute another profession's or organization's code of ethics.)

Haney, C., Banks, W.C., & Zimbardo, P.G. (1976). Interperesonal dynamics in a simulated prison. In M.P. Golden, (Ed.). The Research Experience (pp. 157-177). Itasca, IL: F.E. Peacock.

Haney, C. (1976). The play's the thing: Methodological notes on social simulations.  In M.P.  Golden, (Ed.). The Research Experience (pp. 177-190). Itasca, IL: F.E. Peacock.

Fong, R. (2001). Culturally competent social work practice: Past and present. In R. Fong & S. Furuto (Eds.), Culturally Competent Practice: Skills, Interventions, and Evaluations (pp.1-9). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

McMahon, A. (1992). Is social work racist? A content analysis of recent literature. Social Work, 37(6), 533-539.

The Nuremberg Code. On-line: Available http://www.rvi.net/~fluoride/nuremburg.htm. 

National Bioethics Advisory Committee. (1998). An Overview of the Issues (Chapter 1). On-line: Available http://www.bioethics.gov/capacity/Overview.htm. 

Also, our Research Office has an online education module about conducting Human Research (http://medweb.wustl.edu/IRB-educate/).  It gives an overview of all things related to human subjects.  Other institutions probably have similar information online.

Violet E. Horvath, M.S.W.
Doctoral Student
George Warren Brown School of Social Work
Washington University in St. Louis
vehorvat@gwbmail.wustl.edu 

I believe the study to which you refer is the Tuskegee study in which the control population with active syphillis was left untreated and went on to develop permanent devastating neurologic deficits from teriary syphillis.--Doug Waite, MD

--On Tuesday, November 20, 2001 11:46 PM -0500 "\"Richard Carrière et Louise Picard\" @" <picard.carriere@sympatico.ca> wrotee:

> Bill
>
> There is a very good film called Miss Evers Boys that portrays the
> unethical practices of research carried out on a black community in
> Southern United States. I forget the exact name of the study, but it has
> to do with a study of syphyllis amongst the black population. The
> subjects were never truly informed of the purpose of the study and they
> were never administered penincilin once this method of treatment became
> available as the researchers were more interested in studying the
> autoposy reports than in treating the illness.
>
> My students have found this film very useful.
>
> Richard Carrière
> Laurentian University
> School of Social Work
> Sudbury, Ontario
> Canada
>
> bill higgins a écrit:
>
>> I am looking for examples of research ethics -
>> something that agency staff (direct service and agency
>> researchers) can use to understand the issues
>> associated with ethics.  I was thinking about a good
>> article or in-class exercise that social work faculty
>> use to get some of the main points across.
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> Bill
>>