Dear Colleagues,
I am reviewing a research article for publication and I have a question for which I need a specific reference. I assume someone from this list can help.
The researchers are asking high school students to complete a survey. The students are individually taken out of a class by a "staff member" and are asked to complete a survey. They are informed about their right not to complete the survey. It is unclear whether the "staff member" remains in the room during the survey completion or not. However, given the fact that the students are "tested" individually means that if they do not complete the survey, they can be identified. This procedure strikes me as blatantly unethical. I wouldn't have as much of a problem with it if the students were tested in groups so that non-compliant students could not be specifically identified.
I am assuming this is covered in the APA Ethics document. I don't happen to have one of those handy. Would someone direct me to a specific resource or send me the specific paragraph that addresses this particular procedure?
Thanks so much.
Cheers,
-S
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Steven M. Specht, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Psychology
Utica College
Utica, NY 13502
(315) 792-3171
"Mice may be called large or small, and so may elephants, and it is quite understandable when someone says it was a large mouse that ran up the trunk of a small elephant" (S. S. Stevens, 1958)
