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After identifying potential hazards, researchers can often eliminate or reduce them by altering the research design. This risk minimization strategy can involve simplifying the study procedure to avoid participant frustration or replacing highly offensive and upsetting stimulus materials with milder alternatives, ensuring the study remains effective while subjecting participants to less stress.

Minimizing Risks through Research Design Modification

A prominent example of modifying a research design to reduce participant risk is Jerry Burger's $$2009$$ replication of Stanley Milgram's obedience study. To avoid the severe psychological stress caused by the original experiment, Burger stopped the procedure just before participants administered a $$150$$-volt shock, rather than allowing them to proceed to the $$450$$-volt maximum. This modification was effective because past data showed that participants who reached $$150$$ volts typically continued to the maximum, allowing Burger to validly compare obedience rates while minimizing harm.

Burger's Modification of Milgram's Study

A foundational moral principle in psychological research is that a study is only ethical if its potential benefits outweigh its risks. This ethical evaluation can be challenging, as the risks and benefits are often not directly comparable and may affect different groups; for instance, a study might pose significant risks to the research participants while offering substantial benefits primarily to the scientific community or society.

Weighing Risks Against Benefits

A research protocol is a detailed, formal document outlining a proposed scientific study that investigators must submit for institutional approval. It comprehensively describes the study's core objectives, methodological design, step-by-step procedures, risk-benefit assessment, strategies to minimize potential participant harm, and plans for obtaining informed consent and conducting debriefing.

Research Protocol

During the institutional review, an Institutional Review Board (IRB) may identify ethical concerns or questions about a proposed study. Researchers must respond to these inquiries in good faith and without delay, which may require them to make additional modifications to their research design and procedures to better protect participants prior to resubmitting their protocol.

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