1. You have been hired by a leading university to create guidelines for membership on their institutional review board (IRB). The university is particularly interested in directing your attention toward several areas. Please address the following questions with this in mind:
a. What background should IRB members be required to have?
b. Should IRB members be appointed by the university administration or elected by the faculty? Justify your answer.
c. Should IRB membership be set as a specific term of duration? Should members be eligible for re-election or reappointment? Justify your answer.
d. What sorts of research, if any, should be exempt from review? Justify your answer.
2. You are a member of an IRB at a leading university. The following study has been presented for your review:
This research will involve a study of elementary aged children whose parent is incarcerated. The sample of children will be randomly assigned to two groups. One group will be instructed in a course designed to reinforce prosocial values (including both obedience of the law and love of your parents); this instrument has been pilot tested and is deemed reliable and valid with regard to increasing student identification with prosocial norms. The other group will not receive any special training. The students who received training are expected to increase their identification with prosocial values by the end of the course, and the students who did not receive special instruction are not expected to improve in this regard.
a. What are some of the ethical problems presented by this research plan?
b. How might each of these ethical problems be avoided or eliminated?
3. You are a researcher who has currently studied marijuana growers. As part of your study, you interviewed 50 large-scale marijuana farmers. Although you conducted these interviews in numerous locations, some of them contain various pieces of identifying information, such as the names of seed suppliers, other marijuana farmers, and various midlevel dealers. Somehow, the local police department has learned about your research and asked you to turn over your tapes of the interviews.
Ethical Problems in the Study of Children of Incarcerated Parents
a. Ethical Problems: The proposed research presents several significant ethical problems:
Vulnerable Population: The study involves a vulnerable population (children with incarcerated parents), who are at an increased risk of psychological distress and may be more susceptible to coercion.
Coercion and Undue Influence: The children are in a dependent relationship with the school, which could create a form of subtle coercion to participate. Furthermore, the promise of a "prosocial" course could be seen as an undue inducement, implying that the children are inherently "un-prosocial."
Harm to Participants: The study's design has the potential to cause harm. For the control group, being left out of a program that is framed as "improving" could lead to feelings of inadequacy or being "less than." For the treatment group, a course reinforcing "love of your parents" could be psychologically damaging for children who have been abandoned or abused by their parent.
Lack of Informed Consent: Obtaining truly informed consent from parents of these children, who may be experiencing significant life challenges, is complex. The children themselves, due to their age, cannot provide fully informed consent, requiring a proper assent process.
Stigmatization: The study could inadvertently stigmatize the children by publicly identifying them as having an incarcerated parent, potentially exposing them to bullying or social ostracization. 😥
b. How to Avoid/Eliminate Ethical Problems:
Eliminate the Control Group: To avoid the harm of a non-treatment group, a waitlist control design could be used. All participants would eventually receive the intervention, but at different times, eliminating the feeling of being left out.
Reframe the Intervention: The course should be reframed as a general skill-building program (e.g., social-emotional learning) rather than one that explicitly targets a child's family situation. This avoids the potentially damaging focus on "love of your parents" and reduces the risk of psychological harm.
Sample Answer
Guidelines for Institutional Review Board (IRB) Membership
a. Required Background for IRB Members: IRB members should possess a diverse and interdisciplinary background to ensure a thorough review of research protocols. The board must include members from various scientific disciplines, such as social sciences, medicine, and engineering, to assess the scientific merit and potential risks of different types of research. Additionally, at least one member should have a non-scientific background (e.g., from law, ethics, or a community-based organization) to represent the perspective of the general public. It's crucial that one member is knowledgeable in the specific areas of research being reviewed, particularly regarding vulnerable populations.