Thanks Stuart, Rick and Annette! I stand corrected in my understanding of the ethical requirements. My students will be pleased their project is feasible.
Joe Joseph J. Horton, Ph. D. Box 3077 Grove City College Grove City, PA 16127 724-458-2004 [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> In God we trust, all others must bring data. From: Stuart McKelvie [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, September 15, 2011 2:26 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: RE:[tips] Ethics Question Dear Tipsters, Annette wrote: Where does it say that in the APA guidelines that in a standard psychological study we MUST give incentives? ...... What ever happened to "volunteers" in the truest sense of the word? It may explain some of the "entitlement" people in general feel these days if "ethical principles" now bind us to incentivize studies! In many psych studies we use a subject pool and students get credit for participation; but that really has nothing to do with incentivizing other than making sure that we (the big we--all researchers across the country doing research) actually get participants for studies because if we depended on true volunteers, they would be very few and far between and of course we justify this as providing with a unique experiential insight into the research process--which, of course, is partly true. That said, true volunteering can't possibly be unethical, can it????? _________________ I also am not aware of an APA blanket injunction to offer incentives. Indeed, in our department we have actually abandoned our practice of course credit (even extra credit) for research participation. However, we do not object if individual student researchers arrange their own incentives. Two examples from recent practice are freshly baked cookies (very effective, I may add) and entry into a draw for a gift certificate. Sincerely, Stuart --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13276.cca437dfff11995edc035566eabec9a7&n=T&l=tips&o=12693 (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) or send a blank email to leave-12693-13276.cca437dfff11995edc035566eabec...@fsulist.frostburg.edu<mailto:leave-12693-13276.cca437dfff11995edc035566eabec...@fsulist.frostburg.edu> --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=12695 or send a blank email to leave-12695-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
