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Explain why Dr. Aris's proposed study is ethically problematic under the guidelines for greater than minimal risk research, and identify the core change he must make to his study design to justify the emotional risks to the participants.
Case context: Dr. Aris is designing a study to examine how intense peer rejection affects self-esteem. He plans to use a simulated social media task where confederates post hurtful comments about the participants. This task is highly likely to cause temporary emotional upset to the participants. However, the study has major methodological flaws, including a lack of control groups and poorly defined variables, which makes it unlikely to produce any scientifically valid findings or practical solutions for peer rejection.
Question: Explain why Dr. Aris's proposed study is ethically problematic under the guidelines for greater than minimal risk research, and identify the core change he must make to his study design to justify the emotional risks to the participants.
Sample answer: Dr. Aris's study is ethically problematic because it poses greater than minimal risk (emotional upset) without offering benefits that outweigh those risks. Because the study's design is methodologically flawed, it cannot produce scientifically interesting findings or practical implications. To justify the risks, Dr. Aris must rigorously redesign the study so that it is scientifically sound and capable of either answering an interesting research question or providing clear practical benefits.
Key points:
- The study involves greater than minimal risk due to potential emotional upset.
- Flawed methodology prevents the study from generating benefits like scientific knowledge or practical implications.
- Ethics require a rigorous design so that potential scientific or practical benefits outweigh the elevated risks.
Rubric: The student should demonstrate comprehension by explaining that the emotional risk is unjustified because the flawed design yields no offsetting benefits. The response must state that the researcher needs to implement a rigorous design to ensure the study answers a scientifically interesting question or yields clear practical implications.
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Research Methods in Psychology - 4th American Edition @ KPU
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