This paper will focus on how you could revise these scenarios as ethically conducted research
endeavors. In other words, please identify how the scenarios can be modified so that they adhere to ethical
guidelines in the field of psychology. Some general considerations to include are:-How you would get consent
from participants and what you would do to protect their anonymity?-What is the level of risk involved in the
research study? How would
you justify and minimize risk?-How would you debrief the participants? Would they get a reward? If so, what
would that reward be?-Why do you think that reward is appropriate to the task?
Scenario I: A local business is interested in making better decisions about which employees should be
encouraged to pursue a career track in management. They ask a psychologist to administer and interpret
personality tests that include measures of creativity, ego
strength, and introversion/extroversion to a group of new employees. Should he honor this request? What
issues are raised if the instruments used by the psychologist were developed using samples of white, middleclass men? What if the psychologist also is asked to administer an integrity test to evaluate each new
employee?
Scenario II: A major corporation hires a psychologist who has conducted applied research on cognitive errors
that result from the way in which a message is presented. Some of her research suggests that consumer brand
preferences can be manipulated by techniques
that make listeners think they heard something other than what was actually said. The vice president for the
marketing division, who is not trained in behavioral research, pressures her to incorporate her research
findings in the design of a new marketing campaign. What
ethical concerns exist?
Scenario 3: A psychologist who conducts qualitative research on social support and major life stresses is
interested in how parents cope with the death of a young child. He decides to research the use of Internet
sources of support. Posing as a parent who has recently
lost a child, he subscribes to several listservs and participates in discussions in several chat rooms. He prints
postings and discussions for his data analyses and quotes from these transcripts in his publications. What
ethical concerns exist? What additional issues
arise if the psychologist harvests the lists, not as a participant, but by
accessing archives?