hey there welcome to a mini lecture dealing with the apa ethics code in this particular presentation i will discuss the history of the american psychological association following that i will highlight key information in the introduction and applicability the preamble and the general principles section finally i'll discuss the first eight standards of the apa ethics code as i think they're most relevant to you all as researchers and i'll offer occasional examples to apply the standards to research context the american psychological association is the largest professional organization of psychologists in the united states and it is composed of over 121 000 members it was founded at clark university by approximately 300 people and the first president of the organization was g stanley hall in the 1900s it merged with other psychological organizations and thus the governance of the organization expanded to include provinces and various divisions representing subfields in psychology over time clinical psychology began to dominate the profession and some members broke away from apa to establish their own independent organizations to focus on science and research for example associations like the association for psychological sciences the organization of apa aims to communicate and apply psychological knowledge and skills so that individuals and society will benefit in this presentation i'll discuss the apa ethics code which provides standards for psychologists to consider as they accomplish their aims the apa ethics code was first written in 1953 and last revised in 2010 it consists of an introduction a preamble five principles and ten ethical standards that psychologists use to guide ethical decision making in science research and practice in the event of a violation of one of the 10 standards apa may take action which could include termination of apa membership sanctions and the loss of one's license contingent on the severity of the violation the introduction of the apa ethics code discusses the intent organization and procedural considerations and scope of application of the ethics code the preamble and general principles are aspirational goals to guide psychologists toward the highest ideals of psychology the preamble and general principles are not enforceable folks but they should be considered by psychologists in arriving at an ethical course of action most of the ethical standards are written broadly so that they can be used in a variety of contexts and apply to psychologists in different roles it's important to note that the ethical standards are not exhaustive and conduct not addressed in the code should not be assumed to be ethical or unethical it's important to note that the apa code of ethics only applies to people when they're in the role of psychologists which should be distinguished from purely private conduct of psychologists the code is not a basis for civil liability and being ignorant of the code is not a defense for a violation of the code if in the role of a psychologist modifiers you'll find throughout the code include reasonably appropriate and potentially and these are all modifiers that are included in the standards so that it would allow professional judgment on behalf of psychologists ensure applicability across a broad range of activities guard against rigid rules and prevent the code from becoming quickly obsolete and outdated when making decisions regarding the ethics code psychologists must consider the ethics code in addition to applicable laws and psychology board regulations if the ethics code establishes a higher standard than required by law psychologists must adhere to the higher standard the preamble of the ethics code highlights the work of psychologists and how the ethics code helps psychologists to fulfill their mission and attain broader goals as alluded to earlier the general principles are aspirational in nature not enforceable and should be things that psychologists aspire to attain the first standard of the ethics code deals with resolving ethical issues as you can imagine it would make sense to tackle this issue early in the code given that psychologists need a how-to when faced with ethical dilemmas in research and practice there are many subfoci in this standard which include correcting the misusage of one's work and making clear one's commitment to the ethics code when the code comes in conflict with the law regulations or other governing legal authority after making clear one's commitment to the ethics code one must take reasonable steps to resolve the conflict 1.02 cannot be used to justify the violation of human rights psychologists have been implicated in green lighting torture and being complicit in violating human rights throughout the years hoffman report is a direct result of investigations into interrogation instances where psychologists may have been in ethical conflict and failed to make clear their adherence to the apa ethics code and resolve the issue when one can they should seek to resolve ethical issues in an informal manner that's really really important but in some instances given the severity of an issue the ethical issue cannot be resolved informally and should be taken to national committees state licensing boards or appropriate institutional boards as researchers this may involve reporting violations that cannot be resolved informally to institutional review boards at a university or college individuals must cooperate with ethics committees and to not do so could constitute a violation within itself there are some exceptions connected to waiting for the outcome of litigation the the last part of this particular standard discourages improper complaints and upholds individuals rights in the event that they are the subject of an ethical complaint that does not have a determined outcome yet so the second standard i like to refer to as stay in your own lane the second standard scholars focus is on boundaries of competence you should only conduct research teach and practice within the boundaries of your training background education supervised experience consultation study or professional experience psychologists must obtain training in specialized areas when it is called for by the research literature this could involve understanding how factors such as age gender identity culture and ethnicity impacts the implementation of services and research if it's a new area you have to get more training in that area if there is not existing systematic training available you must take reasonable steps to gain knowledge and skill before undergoing work in that area note the modifier that i just used reasonable steps so that's going to be very much based on your professional judgment now you can provide assistance in areas where you have similar training if you take reasonable steps to gain competence uh and this can be through additional training of course in consultation in emergencies psychologists can provide mental health services in areas where they are not trained but once the emergency passes or a psychologist who is trained in a specific area is available the provision of those services must stop immediately psychologists are responsible for maintaining their competence and only delegate work to individuals who they do not have an exploitative relationship with work delegated must be work that could be completed with proper supervision and a psychologist should be sure to ensure the work is completed in proper fashion psychologists should refrain from engaging in work when they are aware that personal problems may negatively impact their work limiting suspending and terminating work efforts may be necessary to manage personal problems and their impact on work the specific standards that i think would tie most closely to research include 2.01 2.03 2.04 2.05 and 2.06 in this section practicing within the boundaries of a cyber psychologist is extremely important and should collaborations occur across other fields of psychology for example neurology additional education should be sought 2.03 highlights how researchers should constantly be engaging in continuing education in an effort to bolster acumen and skills to be efficient 2.04 is at the heart of any research project coming to fruition and that decisions made in projects should be based on sound research in theory 2.05 is important in the context of a supervisory relationship on a team in particular consider research assistance and their role in laboratories finally 2.06 addresses the life happens phenomenon the idea that we all have unexpected challenges in life and researchers should be mindful of how personal problems can impact the culture of their laboratory the relationships help with assistance and collaborators and ultimately the participants sought to engage in research all right scholars onward and upward let's talk about standard three human relations psychologists should not engage in unfair discrimination when conducting research discrimination deals with making a distinction between a thing and a manner that is for and or against based on grouping class or category to which the thing belongs rather than on individual merit in a research context this could involve individuals being pinpointed to be in a particular study that would go against their ability to have an optimal life based on race for example the tuskegee experiment another example could involve a researcher deciding to offer a new effective treatment to a certain ethnic group without giving others the opportunity to participate in the study and benefit from that new effective treatment moving on sexual harassment and harassment of any sort should not be engaged in by psychologists which include instances and multiple occurrences so just don't do it you see it in the presentation no just don't do it psychologists should strive to avoid harm in all of their activities and in moments where it is foreseeable and unavoidable they should strive to minimize harm multiple relationships sometimes occur in various situations and it's not that they should be avoided across the board rather the psychologist should reflect on if they are in a multiple relationship as listed out in the code and then think about whether or not the relationship could reasonably be expected to impair the psychologist's objectivity competence or effectiveness in performing their roles as a psychologist or otherwise risk exploitation or harm to the person they are in a relationship with multiple relationships could be a relationship a professor has with a student in their class that is also a member of their research laboratory another type of multiple relationship could be a married couple working together as psychologists in a research laboratory these relationships must be assessed and if they cause harm to people be it the researchers themselves or participants or anybody of uh benefiting from services from the psychologist this uh multiple relationship should be terminated if conflicts are at play given an institution's demands and in other words the institution is putting someone in a position to be in a multiple relationship for example um a faculty member that may serve as a supervisor in a research laboratory but they also serve as an administrator in the program uh the the important thing to do is to go back to standard one um the psychologist must make known their clear commitment to the ethics code and take steps to resolve said multiple relationship psychologists should also be reflecting on whether or not the multiple relationship would impair their objectivity and competence and effectiveness as an administrator right and as a supervisor because that's two different relationships psychologists strive to avoid conflicts of interest they work to not exploit people in their relationships they cooperate with other professionals and they clarify who is the client when providing services through a third-party requester okay it's really important for a psychologist to know who is decline this uh dilemma is quite common in therapeutic settings scholars when clinicians have to uh provide services based on what insurance allows and they have to juggle that uh that that allowance with what they believe the client really needs right so trying to figure out who is the client and the same thing may also play out in research laboratories as well when psychologists are engaging in research they must provide informed consent in a language that is understandable by participants that means that the language should be tailored to the population and not contain a great deal of technical jargon that may confuse the lay public if people are legally incapable of providing informed consent the psychologist must provide an appropriate explanation seek the individual's asset consider the person's preferences and best interest and obtain appropriate permissions from a legally authorized representative when consent is not required the researcher must still aspire to protect the individual's rights and welfare it's not necessary that the individuals sign an informed consent document per se but as per the code the consent and ascent must be documented 3.11 and 3.12 mostly pertain to psychologists that provide services to organizations researchers have a primary obligation to maintain the confidentiality of their participants through any stored medium so encrypted folders password protected computers and letting the participant know in the informed consent who will have access to their information and how it will be shared in publication or otherwise is extremely important it's also important for psychologists to discuss the limitations of confidentiality and this is especially in the case of minors or those who cannot provide informed consent and it's important to discuss how the information will be used moving forward all of the affirmation must be discussed at the beginning of the relationship moving on to another substandard if you are going to record a participant you need permission let's say you wanted to discuss some issues you are having in your data set and you would like to speak with another psychologist about it in other words you need to consult for data analysis purposes be careful to only disclose information that is relevant to the problem you want to leave out identifying information of your participants these conversations should be had with only those people clearly concerned about those matters researchers may disclose information they've given permission and there's only four real reasons why one may disclose information without the person's consent number one you may disclose it to protect the individual or others from harm number two you may disclose it to consult and this is involved only this is involving only germain information number three you may disclose to provide professional services and finally number four you may disclose to obtain payment for services by disclosing the minimum amount of information necessary so within the research context uh this uh particular substandard may be applicable to uh grant authorizing organizations with whom you are accountable if you wanted to use information in your cyber psych research study for didactic or other purposes you must obtain consent to do that you must desensitize the information otherwise taking out identifying information participants and you must have legal authorization to do so psychologists are careful not to make false or deceptive claims about their research training licenses degrees institutional affiliations and research findings this includes statements in applications brochures product endorsements curriculum vita etc if you advertise for a research study it must be clearly identified as an advertisement researchers cannot pay the radio press television company or any other communications for a news item if you do go the route of getting advertisement the responsibility of the wording for the study is on you be careful and mindful of language used for the advertisement of your study as you do not want to make deceptive claims let's say you decide to offer a cyber psychology workshop of some sort on research and you want to get the word out you need to accurately describe the audience for who it is intended fees presenters and the educational objectives when interacting with the media in a consultative relationship one must present information within the bounds of their competence and this should be done with an entity with which the psychologist does not have a multiple relationship psychologists do not engage in in-person solicitation of business from an actual or potential therapy client who because of their particular vulnerabilities may be subject to undue influence unless it's in an emergency situation or it's in an existing client that is already engaged 6.01 deals with controlling maintaining disseminating and destroying records because doing this properly allows for research designs to be replicated it also ensures institutional requirements are met and it ensures compliance with the law among other things a researcher also stores records properly to maintain confidentiality and this is especially the case if the records are on a device that is used by multiple people in the event that a researcher is leaving their position at an institution or within a research laboratory the researcher must make plans to protect the participants confidentiality that will last in their absence okay we're gonna play the let's say game again let's say you are a research consultant assisting faculty members with generating experimental design and selecting proper analyses you should be careful to discuss your fees upfront or you may end up like stewie with brian and the presentation you should be careful to discuss your fees up front and discuss any limitations connected to the services if there are limited finances on behalf of the recipient of said services you have to make sure you do not misrepresent your fees and that they are in compliance with the law in the event that the recipient of your services does not pay you in a timely fashion then you must reach out to them before taking them to a collective agency in other words you you gotta first let them know that they're in danger of being taken to a collective agency and really strive to work out some kind of payment plan the possibility of bartering is discussed in a service related scenario but it may be a viable option for you as a researcher if it's not contraindicated and exploitative of the population that you're working with if your research is being funded by an organization because you obtained a million dollar grant this is an implied let's say game right then you must take reasonable steps to ensure you are sharing the true nature of the research charges you incurred payments you delivered with monies and the findings with the organization holding you accountable so integrity integrity integrity is important 6.07 is more so tied to a therapeutic setting but the heart of the standard is compensating individuals for the work done and not on a referral made so this particular standard may be important to keep in mind if you're using snowball sampling and you are providing some type of incentive for individuals to help you recruit others for your research study this particular standard really focuses on the delivery of psychological training in higher education settings and may not be totally applicable to you as a cyber psychological researcher nevertheless i'll cover some of the highlights of the standard before educational programs are rolled out reasonable steps must be taken to ensure that appropriate knowledge and experiences is linked to educational outcomes there must be a current and accurate description of the training program objectives requirements stipends and other things for satisfactory completion of the program course syllabi must be accurate concerning the content that is covered but this standard does not prevent an instructor from modifying the course syllabus as long as students are given a reasonable amount of time to adhere and they are informed in advance teachers cannot require you to orally or in written fashion disclose information about yourself personal information unless this is identified as a requirement in the admission or the information that's necessary to evaluate or obtain assistance for students whose personal problems may be preventing them from performing training or professionally competent activities in a competent manner or if the students pose a threat to other students if it's in the program requirements some graduate programs can require you to go to group therapy or individual therapy psychologists involved in such a program cannot operate as both instructor and or administrator and individual therapist if you have a research assistant under you you must establish a specific time frame in which you will provide feedback the focus on the feedback should be on actual performance finally do not have sex with your research assistants please and thank you this is especially the case if you have evaluative authority over them to whom it may apply mucho gracias so for the purposes of this mini lecture and truncating the material covered section 8 is going to be the last section i cover this is dealing with research and publication grand finale the last two sections of the apa ethics code focus on therapy and assessment which may be relevant to you all if you are conducting research in that type of setting research and publication when institutional approval is required psychologists must provide accurate information about their research keyword is when some corporations businesses and organizations do not have an institutional review board but when they do this approval must be sought out 8.02 list out some of the key requirements of informed consent number one researchers must clearly discuss the purpose expectations and durations of the proceedings in the study number two researchers must ensure that participants know they can withdraw if they choose to do so at any time number three the consequences of declining or withdrawing need to be clearly disclosed for example maybe the participant won't get compensated uh maybe they'll get partial compensated uh partially compensated uh maybe they won't be able to participate in the study later on because it's longitude no in nature it has too much of a a gap of uh data missing uh number four uh factors that may influence their ability to participate like risk discomfort and adverse effects must be communicated number five any research benefits so if the participants get chocolate or a gift card or or certificate or extra credit like all of those benefits must be clearly laid out number six limits of confidentiality um so uh for example confession about playing a hurt self or others that could be grounds to uh break confidentiality to make sure that you help the individual not to harm others or harm themselves and other legal limitations right these could pose overall limitations as it relates to confidentiality number seven um incentives for participation um so this goes back to uh what i was stating earlier uh in addition to um let me clarify research benefits may be connected to um actual experimental procedures done in a lot of studies so any kind of medication and benefits that may follow it uh number eight who to contact with questions about the research or participant rights you must also provide the participant with an opportunity to ask questions and receive answers if the research is intervention-based then participants must be informed about how they will be assigned to groups how they will be compensated if compensated services available to the control group the nature of the experimental treatment and available treatment options just in case the participant decides they do not want to participate once the study has began one must get consent when they're recording unless they're conducting the research in a naturalistic way and the recording will not cause harm to anyone or it won't cause folks to be identified additionally one does not need to get consent at the start of the study if it is obtained in a debriefing afterward because the study involved deception research participants must be protected from adverse consequences connected to declining to participate in a study and if research participation is a course requirement or an opportunity for extra credit an alternative equitable activity must be given to those who do not want to participate in the study very important to keep that in mind um dispensing with informed consent is possible when research is conducted that does not cause reasonable distress or harm and is part of the normal study of educational practices anonymous questionnaires naturalistic observations and archival research again this has to be research that does not cause risk of someone being negatively harmed other examples of this could include i o related assessments that do not affect employees and any other instances permitted by law or federal regulations i would still advise you all to seek institutional approval before dispensing with informed consent and not assume that it would be appropriate to do so let's play the let's say game again let's say you chose to offer three hundred dollars to a participant that completed a 10 item multiple choice survey that would be unethical you should not do that one cannot offer a participant 300 to fill out a 10 item multiple choice survey if services are being offered as a means of incentivizing participants then the nature of the services the risks the obligations and the limitations must be discussed with the research participant up front deception should only be used in a research study when the study is of significant value and every non-alternative deception procedure has been exhausted participants should not be deceived about physical pain or severe emotional distress that could result from being in a study and psychologists should explain any integral part of an experiment that involves deception as early as feasible no later than the conclusion of data collection once the participants are made aware of the deception they should be given the right to withdraw their data if they desire to do so if psychologists must delay the debriefing process then they strive to minimize harm and if they become aware their procedures have harmed a participant they strive to minimize harm there sometimes this is done by providing resources for the participants to utilize in the informed consent process just in case harm results humane care and use of animals is extremely important and there are seven standards that should be adhered to in the aepa ethics code uh seven sub standards uh that uh lay out proper ethical work with animals in reporting research psychologists must not fabricate data if a psychologist identifies errors in a published manuscript they must take reasonable steps to get those errors corrected psychologists do not present portions of another work and occasionally citing an author is not an appropriate remedy for this blunder authorship in public research is based on the work conducted key work conducted not position of power minor contributions are acknowledged within the footnotes or an introduction it wouldn't be proper for somebody with a minor contribution to be a second third author or a first author for that matter again let me restate positions of power for example a department chair at an institution had a research lab etc all of that does not dictate first authorship or any authorship credit okay um authorship credit is based on work completed okay i have essentially beat a dead horse faculty advisors need to discuss authorship with research assistants as early as possible if a student is publishing their dissertation or a significant amount of work from it then they should receive first authorship psychologists cannot republish as original data that which has already been published they can republish data when it is accompanied by an acknowledgement that it has already been published okay psychologists who review studies for presentation grants proposal or otherwise respected will otherwise respect the confidentiality of the submitter and the proprietary rights of the individual who submitted the information finally if someone wants to verify your data analysis is accurate they can request your data and you could supply them with the expressed you can you could supply the data with the expressed understanding that they could not do anything else with your data but verify your results before doing so you would have to make sure the data is clean and protect the confidentiality of your participants alright so we've reached the end of this brief mini lecture in one fell swoop i've tried to touch on some key points throughout the apa ethics code hope you enjoyed this presentation i hope that the occasional example sprinkled throughout helped you to see how the vast bulk of the apa ethics code connects to cyber psychological research and how some areas may have more pronounced significance than others remember this is not the entire apa ethics code there's another standard dealing with therapy and there's another standard dealing with assessment make sure you check some of those standards out what you'll likely find in your analysis is that a lot of the content discussed overlaps with some of the principles and the standards we've addressed here i look forward to connecting with you soon in the meantime take care