Deception involves intentionally providing inaccurate or false information to subjects. Examples include:
- In order to induce stress, study personnel tell subjects that they will give a speech that evaluators will observe on video, when the subjects’ speeches will not actually be recorded or observed.
- Study personnel tell subjects that they will be engaged in a cooperative task with other subjects, but instead subjects will actually be interacting with study personnel.
- Study personnel tell subjects that they will play a competitive game involving financial rewards based on their performance. In fact, the game is rigged and rewards are not based on performance.
Incomplete disclosure involves withholding information about the study purpose and/or reason for procedures, in order to prevent biasing the results. Examples include:
- In order to examine how race and gender impact people’s perception of conflicts between individuals, subjects review several hypothetical scenarios describing confrontations between various characters, which include stock photos to represent the individuals involved, and then are asked to complete questions regarding their perception of each of the individuals involved. The subjects are not informed that the race and gender of the characters are manipulated by the researchers but subjects will know that the scenarios are hypothetical.
- To further understanding of how representations of same sex couples depicted in commercials influence consumer behavior, subjects are exposed to advertisements featuring gay couples and straight couples while their heart rate, facial muscle movement, and sweat responses are recorded. Subjects are informed that their reactions to the commercials are being studied, but not that the researchers are examining if the sexual orientation of characters in commercials influences them.
Limits on Incomplete disclosure:
- Incomplete disclosure does not extend to withholding information from subjects about what they will be asked to do. A protocol that informs subjects that they will be asked to complete one 60-minute session but provides no information about the contents of this session would not be considered incomplete disclosure.
- Protocols that involve manipulating an individual’s environment, without that person’s prospective agreement to participate in research, are not considered incomplete disclosure. In such cases disclosure to subjects is entirely absent, not merely incomplete.
Disclosed concealment involves the withholding of certain information from subjects in cases where subjects consent specifically to the lack of disclosure. An example is a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in which subjects will have information regarding their assignment to a particular study arm withheld; however, subjects are informed of the study arms and that their assignment will not be disclosed. Disclosed concealment is considered neither deception nor incomplete disclosure.
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Abstract
Informed consent is the most essential part of research ethics. The requirement to explain an experiment to the participants who provide tissues/information in order to obtain their voluntary consent is absolutely necessary in any research project. It is an expression of respect regarding the autonomy of the person who participates in the experiment. Why and how is informed consent required and what if some information is intentionally withheld to facilitate the participation? This paper will briefly review the history of informed consent, discuss the components of an ethically valid informed consent and examine deception in research. Sometimes, deception is used in Social, Behavioral and Educational Research [SBER] in order to obtain accuracy information. Can this be justified? There is no doubt that, for some psychological and sociological experiments, the less the subjects know the better. The Bystander Apathy Experiment and the Milgram Experiment will be used here as examples that are discussed and analyzed. In general, deception is not acceptable in human studies. Occasionally, it is necessary to mislead the participants who are subjects of a study in order to obtain unbiased information. The Institute Review Board [IRB] must review very carefully the proposals that use deception or misrepresentation. The reasons that deception is necessary for the study purpose need to be justified in depth and there must be provision in the procedures to protect the participants. When the study is completed, it is essential that a debriefing by the investigator is provided that explains any deception or incomplete disclosure involved; this should also help the subjects to deal with any distress or discomfort experienced in the research.
Keywords
Autonomy
Debriefing
Deception
Informed consent
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