Question

1. Would you willingly participate in a sociological study, like the Stanford Prison Experiment, that could potentially put your health and safety at risk, but had the potential to help thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people? Explain the code of ethics for social research and defend if you think it is too restrictive and would prevent quality social research?

Answer 1

The Belmont report articulated three broad principles on which standards of ethical conduct in research are based. Beneficience impose a duty on researchers to minimize harm and maximize benefits. Researchers have an obligation to avoid, prevent or minimize harm in studies with humans. Participants must not be subjected to unnecessary risk of harm or discomfort, and their participation must be essential to achieving scientifically and societally important aims that could not otherwise be realized. Ethical researchers must use strategies to minimize all types of harms and discomforts, even ones that are temporary. Research should be conducted only by qualified, especially if potentially dangerous equipment or specialized procedures are used. Ethical researchers must be prepared to terminate a study if they suspect that continuation would result in injury, death or undue distress to participants. Protecting human beings from physical harm maybe straight forward, but the psychological consequences of study participation are usually subtle and require close attention and sensitivity