I can't help but wonder if this isn't an awful lot like the way students treat evaluations of teaching. It seems that the same concerns would be there in both cases.
Carol Carol L. DeVolder, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology Chair, Department of Psychology St. Ambrose University 518 West Locust Street Davenport, Iowa 52803 Phone: 563-333-6482 e-mail: [email protected] web: http://web.sau.edu/psychology/psychfaculty/cdevolder.htm The contents of this message are confidential and may not be shared with anyone without permission of the sender. -----Original Message----- From: William Scott [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thu 5/7/2009 11:38 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] educating participants in research Because the "alternatives" to research participation requirements are pretty much in place everywhere, I'll wager that the students who reported to Joan that they were required to participate in research were actually offered those alternatives. I'll also wager that the alternatives were presented in such a way that the students immediately discarded them as actual alternatives and thereby forgot about that part of the contract. Why write a summary paper that requires real work when you can flip through some questionnaires and get it over with? This was the original concern of this thread. The students are asked to be there in body but need bring nothing else. I agree that this state of affairs could have serious effects on the overall quality of psychological research. I think Stephen, who reported on participants' casual flipping through powerpoint slides, may have a paradigm that could serve as a dependent variable to test the effectiveness of various participant preparation/education procedures. Given different sets of instructions, how much time do they spend with the material presented to them when allowed to proceed at their own pace? Bill Scott >>> "Gerald Peterson" <[email protected]> 05/07/09 9:29 AM >>> I don't know if it's an ethical guideline, suggestion or what, but APA "requires" there be alternatives for students in Gen. Psych classes being asked to participate in research. Gary >>> "Joan Warmbold" <[email protected]> 5/6/2009 9:53 pm >>> I clearly was under a misconception here. I had been told by a number of my 101 students that at their previous universities they were required to participate in a number of research studies--average seeming to be between 3 and 6. Has that changed in recent years? Clearly if students are given the option for other activities, then there's nothing coercive about their participation whatsoever. Joan [email protected] > I know of no program that doesn't offer a reasonable alternative to > research participation. We ask students to complete a 1-page double-spaced > summary of an empirical article from an APA journal or from a short list > of other peer-reviewed journals. They get to pick whatever topic they want > and often the articles are immediatley accessible online so that they > don't even have to go anywhere. The length of the article doesn't matter > as long as they can capture the essence of what they read. > > I really do believe that participation teaches valuable lessons about the > process of research. I still remember from the late 1960's participating > in research studies even though I was at that time clueless about the > whole process. I have a vague memory of memory drums! but I no longer > remember from over 40 years ago just what the study was about. I do > remember really believing that what I was doing was important. > > So I have no problem with subject pools. > > Annette > > Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D. > Professor of Psychology > University of San Diego > 5998 Alcala Park > San Diego, CA 92110 > 619-260-4006 > [email protected] > > > ---- Original message ---- >>Date: Wed, 6 May 2009 19:05:31 -0500 (CDT) >>From: "Joan Warmbold" <[email protected]> >>Subject: Re: [tips] educating participants in research >>To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" >> <[email protected]> >> >>Boy am I going to provoke reactions here but to me it seems unethical to >>require psychology students to be participants in research studies. And >>is it any surprise that forced participants sometimes don't take the >>research seriously? They might be irritated and/or feel they are being >>taken advantage of, and rightly so. There has to be a better way to >>obtain participants for research studies other than literally coercing >>students to do so if they wish to get credit in a course. >> >>Joan >>[email protected] >> >>> We try....to various levels of success. We try to emphasize the ethics >>> involved and have decided as as department to incorporate a discussion >>> of >>> honest participation during the teaching of research ethics. Also, we >>> encourage students to do the alternate assignment if they really don't >>> want to do the studies. >>> >>> That's the best we can do. I'm anxious to hear better solutions to this >>> problem. I just ran a study where I am sure about 15% of my sample was >>> just blowing off a requirement because they performed so poorly :( I'm >>> not >>> sure how to handle the data. >>> >>> Annette >>> >>> Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D. >>> Professor of Psychology >>> University of San Diego >>> 5998 Alcala Park >>> San Diego, CA 92110 >>> 619-260-4006 >>> [email protected] >>> >>> >>> ---- Original message ---- >>>>Date: Wed, 6 May 2009 13:47:51 -0500 >>>>From: "Blaine Peden" <[email protected]> >>>>Subject: [tips] educating participants in research >>>>To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" >>>> <[email protected]> >>>> >>>> Our students and faculty conduct research with >>>> participants from introductory psychology and other >>>> courses. Some participants seem to do the studies in >>>> great haste and with little sincerity and thereby >>>> raise concerns about the quality of their data. Have >>>> you developed strategies or instructional materials >>>> that explain the process and purpose of >>>> psychological research to future participants and >>>> also promotes their involvement and integrity? I >>>> welcome any comments, suggestions, or resources. >>>> >>>> thanks so much, blaine >>>> >>>> --- >>>> To make changes to your subscription contact: >>>> >>>> Bill Southerly ([email protected]) >>> >>> --- >>> To make changes to your subscription contact: >>> >>> Bill Southerly ([email protected]) >>> >>> >> >> >> >>--- >>To make changes to your subscription contact: >> >>Bill Southerly ([email protected]) > > --- > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > Bill Southerly ([email protected]) > > --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
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