PEER REVIEW: Research History & Developing a Research Question

Respond to the Instructor AND two peers by extending, refuting/correcting, or adding additional nuance to their posts. Your reply must be constructive and use peer reviewed sources where possible.

INSTRUCTOR (100 word min)

1 – Thank you for your post on the Tuskegee Syphilis Study (1932-1972). I think you chose an important study for the ethics of research! What I think is especially interesting is that we are still impacted negatively by this research today, and I think COVID actually brought this to the attention of the African American population. What are your thoughts about this?

2 – If we look at what research ethic standards see as vulnerable populations, racial and ethnic minorities can be considered vulnerable. I think the Tuskegee Syphilis Study (1932-1972) study made it very clear as to why that particular population was considered vulnerable. What are your thoughts about this?

 

PEER #1 – James, Samantha (reply must be 100 word minimum + one academic source)

Milgram Study

The Milgram research study is one example of a study that has had an impact on current research laws and ethics used. In this study, Stanley Milgram “…wanted to investigate whether Germans were particularly obedient to authority figures as this was a common explanation for the Nazi killings in World War II.” (McLeod, 2017). He wanted to test just how far a person would go to obey instructions that caused harm to other people. Milgram designed the study so that one person would be a teacher (participant) and another would be the learner. The teacher tested the learner on a list of word pairs they were given to memorize and if the learner got something wrong, the teacher was told to administer an electric shock. With each wrong answer, the voltage of the shocks was increased, and the teacher was prodded to continue. This study concluded that “…50% or more of the subjects administered the highest degree of “electric shock”, even after “the learner” began to scream or bang on the wall.” (Yanow & Schwartz-Shea, 2018). This experiment showed that people were more likely to follow and obey instructions from a person of authority.

The Milgram study was very informative because it gave the research community insight into the way people respond to authority figures. This study was deemed controversial because participants were deceived, and they were not properly informed that they were free to withdraw from the study at any time. However, Milgram determined the deception necessary to gauge how far the participants were willing to go. Had they been made aware that there was no electric shock, there would have been no consequences for their actions. Yanow and Schwartz-Shea agree that the Milgram study and its methods, “…have shaped both scholarly and regulatory conceptualizations of deception, thereby constraining understandings of ethical entailments, instrumental value, and the relationship to covert research.” (2018). Without deception, accurate results would not have been gained from this experiment. The Milgram study showed that there are levels of deception that may be necessary for research to obtain accurate results. If this deception does not cause harm to the participant or their rights are not violated, such as the right to withdraw, then the study can still be considered ethical. The Milgram study helped shape the way covert research is viewed and implemented.

 

PEER #2 – Hopkins, Kawana K (reply must be 100 word minimum + one academic source)

The Asch Conformity Study

The study that has impacted the current laws as well as ethics would The Asch Conformity Study. The results of this experiment showed how much a person’s personal opinions are influenced by those of a group. Asch discovered that people would provide a false response and overlook truth to fit in with the group. He carried out one of the most well-known laboratory studies on conformity. He was interested in determining how much social pressure from the majority could cause someone to conform. The researcher requests that each participant choose the appropriate line segment on their own. Sometimes, everyone in the group selects the right line, while other times, everyone agrees that a different line truly matches the criteria for the right answer. Each experiment involved placing a gullible student participant in a room with several additional confederates who were also participating in the experiment. The participants were informed that they were undergoing a vision exam. According to (Cherry, 2022) there were 18 trials total, and the participants responded incorrectly in 12 of them. These critical trials were conducted to determine whether the participants would alter their response to match that of the other group members. The comparison line (A, B, or C) that closely resembled the goal line had to be named aloud by each participant in the room. There was always a clear solution. The actual participant answered last and sat at the end of the line.

The impact Asch conformity study had on research was Asch used a line judgment assignment to place a gullible participant among seven accomplices/stooges in a room. Prior to being given the line challenge, the confederates had decided on their responses. There are two main reasons why people conform: a desire to fit in with the group normative influence and a conviction that the collective is more knowledgeable than they are informational influence. Although some people appreciate acceptance more than others, it is a basic human instinct to seek it out. We all desire to belong and to fit in. We frequently exhibit somewhat various versions of ourselves depending on the situation and the company we are in to do that. For work, at home, or even online, we could have different editions of ourselves. In studies done by (Bechard, 2016) everyone tries to blend in because they fervently want to feel at home no matter where they are. But trying to fit in won’t ever lead you home. Trying to fit into an environment that is different from your own involves adaptation. There, you don’t belong. Living in the world as the actual you is what belonging is all about. You will never fit in someplace you don’t belong, which is a harsh reality. Even though you don’t seem to fit in anywhere, this is what it really takes to fully belong where you are supposed to be.