According to the article these were the criteria for participation: "Boys were included in the study if they (a) were enrolled in a first-grade (33%), second-grade (44%), or third grade (23%) class; (b) did not have a video-game system in their home; (c) had a parent interested in purchasing a system for their use; and (d) had no history of developmental, behavioral, medical, or learning problems. "
And "Only boys whose baseline scores indicated academic achievement within normal limits and no significant behavior problems were randomized." I bet the researchers gave away the gaming system because they had no use for them after the study so they could double as incentives. Given the everyday occurrence of gaming systems giving one as an incentive does not seem unethical. Also, the value seem appropriate (about $100-$150) for parents and children have to fill out multiple measures twice (including a diary). It would certainly be a good idea to let the parents know what the study found but that would occur much later. Marie **************************************************** Marie Helweg-Larsen, Ph.D. Department Chair and Associate Professor of Psychology Kaufman 168, Dickinson College Carlisle, PA 17013 Office: (717) 245-1562, Fax: (717) 245-1971 http://users.dickinson.edu/~helwegm/ **************************************************** -----Original Message----- From: Rick Froman [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, March 09, 2010 1:02 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: RE: [tips] An interesting ethical research question I just brought it up as an interesting ethical issue I hadn't considered before. I didn't say that it would necessarily be judged unethical. If you had a drug for an illness and were putting it through clinical trials on a similar basis (we will give the drug to the control group at the end if it works), would you still give it to them if you found that it caused side effects of the nature described for the video games in this study? I think if we do take the results of our research seriously we would take the outcomes more seriously. It may well be that parents were informed of the outcome of the study during debriefing. The specifics of the debriefing weren't covered in the article so I don't know if they had done the data analysis by the time they gave the debriefing or if it consisted more of a statement of the hypothesis and the method they used to test it. If it did include the results, I guess they would have said, "here is your PS3 but given what we just found, use it carefully". I wonder if the study couldn't have been done without confusing the compensation for participation with the treatment. 1) Generalization may be problematic but that is more a methodological than an ethical concern and it wasn't of interest to me. 2) I don't think that my interest in the ethics of this particular case would mean that I am interested in the ethics of those other non-research-related activities. I was particularly interested in the mixed message of giving as compensation something that your study found to have a detrimental impact. You can imagine for yourself other cases of giving to your control group as compensation something that your study demonstrated to have a negative effect. I think it would at least seem humorously incongruous. 3) Jim's point would seem to indicate that causal studies should have a lower ethical threshold than correlational or epidemiological studies because of their greater persuasive appeal. I haven't heard that argument before but it is also thought-provoking. It does probably ascribe to non-scientists more critical thinking about correlation and causation than they may possess. When many correlational studies are interpreted causally in the popular press, it makes you wonder how much more of an impact a truly causal study would have on parental decision-making. 4) The authors do say this was the first such study to randomly assign participants to conditions so, of course, it is important to do such a study to take the evidence beyond correlational. However, was it necessary to provide the game as compensation for the study? Given the cost of the game systems, that seems a little pricey as compensation for basically just completing a few tests. I think, in the future, it might be possible, as part of the informed consent, to provide information from this study and others suggesting possible academic outcomes and to tell participants they will be involved in a drawing for a game system for which some will win and some will not (so that not everyone gets one at the end of the study). 5) It was the parents who gave their informed consent in this study and I have no problem with that. My concern may not even be so much with the ethics of the study as with the seemingly hypocritical position this particular compensation scheme put researchers in. I don't think, in any case, we generally want to be giving the treatment as a compensation if the "treatment" is shown during the course of the study to have detrimental effects. Of course, they didn't know for sure before they began that it would have detrimental effects but that is why I think it might not be good to offer the treatment as compensation. What if the treatment is worthless (some forms of counseling) or detrimental? Rick Dr. Rick Froman, Chair Division of Humanities and Social Sciences Professor of Psychology Box 3055 John Brown University 2000 W. University Siloam Springs, AR 72761 [email protected] (479)524-7295 http://tinyurl.com/DrFroman -----Original Message----- From: Jim Clark [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, March 09, 2010 11:22 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] An interesting ethical research question Hi 1. Where on earth did they find kids who did NOT have video games? Would results generalize to kids in general? Do results generalize to long-term use (i.e., does novelty wear off?). For how long would it be reasonable to expect that kids would remain non-users without the study? 2. I guess if Rick is concerned about the ethics of this study he would also have to be concerned about the ethics of: (a) parents buying videogames for their kids, (b) kids being allowed to spend their earned money on video games, and (c) any other way that kids could get a video game. That is, kids receiving videogame for participating in research would appear to be exposed to no greater a "risk" than what they face in everyday life. This assumes that appropriate criterion for risk is "that experienced in everyday life," rather than "zero risk." 3. The knowledge gained from such studies is of tremendous value in addressing concerns about inferring causality from nonexperimental data. That is, such studies should allow for more persuasive appeals to parents, resulting in less harm overall to children from excessive videogame play than without such studies. 4. There is no (validly) known risk until such studies are done, so how can it be unethical to engage in such studies? Presumably this consideration would change with accumulation of more evidence. 5. Presumably it is the parents who are giving their consent. Shouldn't their judgment, suitably informed, be respected? Take care Jim James M. Clark Professor of Psychology 204-786-9757 204-774-4134 Fax [email protected] >>> Rick Froman <[email protected]> 09-Mar-10 9:23:06 AM >>> In medical research, sometimes people are recruited into experiments with the promise that, if they are in the control group, when the experiment ends, everyone will get the treatment if it is effective. That seems only ethical. But what about this case? Weis and Cerankosky (2010) recently published a study, "Effects of Video-Game Ownership on Young Boys' Academic and Behavioral Functioning: A Randomized, Controlled Study<http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2010/02/17/0956797610362670>" (link available only to subscribers or APS members) online before print in Psychological Science (Feb 18) the abstract of which is as follows: Young boys who did not own video games were promised a video-game system and child-appropriate games in exchange for participating in an "ongoing study of child development." After baseline assessment of boys' academic achievement and parent- and teacher-reported behavior, boys were randomly assigned to receive the video-game system immediately or to receive the video-game system after follow-up assessment, 4 months later. Boys who received the system immediately spent more time playing video games and less time engaged in after-school academic activities than comparison children. Boys who received the system immediately also had lower reading and writing scores and greater teacher-reported academic problems at follow-up than comparison children. Amount of video-game play mediated the relationship between video-game ownership and academic outcomes. Results provide experimental evidence that video games may displace after-school activities that have educational value and may interfere with the development of reading and writing skills in some children. They mention later in the article that parents were debriefed but it isn't clear if they were made aware of the experimental findings or just of the hypothesis and methods. So, is it ethical to give everyone a treatment that has been found (in an experiment, not just a correlational study) to be detrimental? And was the compensation offered not only coercive but, based on the experimental findings, possibly detrimental to educational outcomes? Rick Dr. Rick Froman, Chair Division of Humanities and Social Sciences Box 3055 x7295 [email protected] http://tinyurl.com/DrFroman Proverbs 14:15 "A simple man believes anything, but a prudent man gives thought to his steps." --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13251.645f86b5cec4da0a56ffea7a891720c9&n=T&l=tips&o=1155 or send a blank email to leave-1155-13251.645f86b5cec4da0a56ffea7a89172...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13039.37a56d458b5e856d05bcfb3322db5f8a&n=T&l=tips&o=1158 or send a blank email to leave-1158-13039.37a56d458b5e856d05bcfb3322db5...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. 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