Ethics in Mental Health and Deafness

10. Ethical Conduct in Research Involving Deaf People

162 10 Ethical Conduct in Research Involving Deaf People Robert Q Pollard, Jr. The American Psychological Association (APA) is perhaps the leading international organization promoting ethical conduct in mental health and behavioral research. The APAcontinually updates its policies and publications regarding ethical research practices. The association’s most recent (ninth) revision of its code of ethics (APA, 1992) contains over a dozen specific standards pertaining to research, as well as many more that relate to certain types of research activity. The APA has published several texts on research ethics, including Sales and Folkman’s (2000) Ethics in Research With Human Participants and Ethical Principles in the Conduct of Research With Human Participants (APA, 1982). Understanding the APA’s ethical guidelines for human subject research is only the starting point for a discussion of research ethics pertaining to mental health and the deaf population. One also requires an understanding of ethical principles that pertain to cross-cultural research. I have previously reviewed the literature on this subject and presented arguments regarding why and how ethical principles in cross-cultural research apply to most research involving deaf people and some research on hearing loss (Pollard, 1992). In the sections that follow, I first will discuss the application of some of the APA’s general ethical guidelines to research involving deaf or hard of hearing people. Then, I will discuss the application of some cross-cultural research ethics guidelines to this field. 163 Ethical Conduct in Research Involving Deaf People GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY RESEARCH ETHICS AND DEAF SUBJECTS To establish a basic foundation of knowledge in the area of human subject research ethics, Sales and Folkman’s (2000) book, the APA’s older publication on the topic (APA, 1982), and the article “Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct” (APA, 1992) should be studied. The 1982 APA text is an expansion on Principle 9 (“Research With Human Participants”) of a prior iteration of the APA’s code of ethics (APA, 1979). The Sales and Folkman book is an update of this document with a more narrative style, including illustrations of ethical reasoning and challenges in human subject research. The 1982 APA text explicates 10 ethical principles designed to guide the conduct of human subject research in the behavioral sciences. The first three principles pertain to how to decide whether or not to conduct a given study. (This issue will be discussed below in the section “CrossCultural Research Ethics and Deaf Subjects,” as it is a more complex matter in that context.) The remaining principles in the 1982 text address avoiding coercion and exploitation in research relationships, confidentiality, informed consent, prevention of and response to harmful effects that may befall research participants, and communication and other responsibilities to participants following their engagement in research. The 1992 APA code of ethics addresses these issues and others, such as cooperation with institutional research review boards (IRBs), inducements (e.g., payments) for research participants, care and use of animals in research, and guidelines for determining publication credit. A comprehensive review of all these general principles and their application to research with deaf and hard of hearing participants is beyond the scope of this chapter. Instead, I will discuss three ethical issues that commonly arise in behavioral research: the use of deception, preserving the anonymity of research participants, and obtaining informed consent. Each of these three topics raises special concerns in research involving individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing. Deception Certain behavioral science investigations could hypothetically be made more feasible or powerful if participants were not informed, or were actually misinformed, about certain aspects of the study. Withholding or disguising information about the purpose of a study in order to prevent participants from yielding biased data is a commonly cited situation where deception may be desired by a researcher. The need to surprise research participants with certain stimuli or the use of “confederates” (assistants who are playing a predetermined role in the experiment, unbeknownst to the 164 Robert Q Pollard, Jr. research participants) are other examples of how deception is sometimes used. Current APA ethical guidelines require that deception be used only when no acceptable alternative is available, and when the benefits of employing deception in a study clearly outweigh the risks to participants. Furthermore, participants must be alerted to the use of deception and provided with full, reparative information as soon as possible during or immediately after the experiment. In considering the participation...