Subject Name: Professional Ethics II

Student Name: ________________________________ SAP ID: ____________________

Semester: ______________ Session: ________________________ Date: ______________

Total Marks: 40 Time: 2 hours

Note: Students have to attach question paper along with answer sheet.

Subjective Part

Question 1: Extensive Questions

1) Analyze the ethical implications of using deception in psychological research.

Discuss the justifications for and against the use of deception, and propose

alternative methods to achieve research goals without deceiving participants.

Answer

In research deception is an act of hiding or omitting the information about the aspects of the

conducting study. By nature, it is unethical practice to deceive the participant in order to get

them participate in the particular study, i.e., in Tuskegee Syphilis experiment participants are

unaware about the nature of the experiment. Deception in research basically violates the rule

of informed consent as participants and these violations hindered the ability of participant to

make Decision to participate in the study. Honesty and integrity are a major principle of the

ethical consideration of any profession but the studies in which deception is used have lack of

transparency which can lead to the potential harm to the participants as when they mislead,

betrayed about the true nature of the research. It can cause harm emotionally and

psychologically and sometimes physically also. Sometime deception may compromise the

fidelity and credibility of the research’s work. Researchers are striving to benefit with whom
they work and take care to do no harm but the deception demoralize the basic principles of

the ethics. Beyond the ethical violations, sometimes deception be considered necessary for

many research objectives. For example, to ensure the validity of the research findings as if

participants are aware that they are being observed in particular behavior than they will be

conscious and true findings will be compromised. By using deception, the research can

observe the true picture of the participants behavior. Also, deception can be used in recaches

when there is no other alternative is existed to measure the particular phenomena of interest

then deception can be used to get true findings. Deception can be used if it ensure the rule of

Beneficences and non-maleficence in which research to do work for the benefit of the society

and do not harm the participants. Beyond the justification of deception, it is considered

unethical in research and there is something alternate to deception which can be used as

debriefing is the technique in which researcher disclose the incomplete information about the

study and provide the information about the experiment or study and purposes of the study.

deception with no physical and emotional harm can be used and other then this naturalistic

observations or other alternative can be used to complete the Research.

2) "The replication crisis in psychology has raised significant ethical concerns."

Evaluate this statement, discussing the implications of failed replications for

scientific integrity and proposing strategies to address issues related to replicability

in psychological research.

Answer:

Replication in research is the process to repeat the study to validate its findings. Accuracy,

honesty and transparency is basic fundamental rules in any profession and if any study is

unable to replicate then it directly hit the accuracy of that particular study. Like the other

fields, in psychology the crisis of replication is a major challenge in academic and practical

both domains. Lack of transparency, flawed and duplicated results or findings leads toward
replication failure. Failure in replication means study have lacking in validity and reliability

and due to lack of reliability it cannot be genialized. Replication crises raise the question

mark of the research process and credibility of the researcher. To address the issues related to

replicated in psychological research it is important to promote accuracy and transparency in

research. For example, when someone is conducting research or experiment, they publish

only accepted hypothesis or results but it is important to publish positive and negative results

or accepted and rejected hypothesis. In practice this phenomenon should be encouraged so

that study can be replicate and could generate true findings. Improvement in methodology,

advance training and mentoring can improve the replication as multi methods and advance

statistics may improve the results and interpretations of the results.

3) Analyze the ethical implications of placebo-controlled trials in professional clinical

research. Discuss the ethical justifications for and against the use of placebos in

research, considering the potential risks and benefits for participants.

Answer

A pacebo-controll traits are experiments in which there are two groups of participants and

one is get the original treatment and the other is get fake treatment which is called

placebo. Everything is same in between groups except the treatment originality. The

purpose of the placebo is to create the difference in their outcomes. For example, to see

the effects of alcohol on sleep both groups are given the treatment of alcohol but one

group is given the original dose of alcohol and the other group is given a drink seems the

alcohol. Placebo is like a deception as participants are believing they are getting treatment

but they are not. O overcome the ethical consideration informed consent should be taken

from the participants and researcher provide the information about the true nature of the

study. Non- Maleficence and beneficence should be ensured to minimize the risk and

maximize the benefits for the participants. However, placebo trails have ethical concerns
 but, in some experiments, it is necessary to find the real picture or effectiveness of the

intervention. It can be justified as it ensures the validity of the study i.e., to assess the

effectiveness of any new treatment. Other than this it controls the biasness factor of the

participants i.e., if the participants are aware about the treatment, then they can be

attributed the fake behavior, with placebo the biasness can be controlled. Beyond the

benefits the placebo trails sometime violate the ethical considerations as it involves the

deception and violate the autonomous right of the participants because they are unaware

about the true nature of the study so they are unable to make decision about the

participation in study.

4) Transparency and accountability are essential for maintaining ethical standards in

professional clinical research." Evaluate this statement, providing examples of how

transparency and accountability can be promoted within research institutions and

among researchers.

Answer:

Transparency and accountability are essential for maintaining the ethical concerns in

professional clinical research as it should based on truth and demonstrate the scientific

integrity and accuracy. Lack of integrity and accuracy lead toward the many challenges

such as replication and reproducibility in research. In research transparency is referred as

accurate presentation of information and accountability is taking responsibility of

someone’s work and the outcomes of the research. Together, they both promote the

honest and reliable practice in research field. There are several ways which can be used to

promote the transparency and accountability. Through educational training on research

ethics can aware the researchers about the responsibility of the research accuracy. Study

replications are promoted to validate the previous findings. During the publication and
after the publication peer review should be encouraged to enhance the transparency of the

researches.