Sociology Introduction to Sociological Research Methods Discussion Section Exercise 3 – Research Ethics You are now familiar with the main ethical concerns of social research. Now, analyze the following five aspects of research ethics for Zimbardo’s experiment. For each of the following questions, give multiple specific details from the video as evidence. Type your answers. When you finish, please upload this to CCLE. 1. Does this research use voluntary participation? This research does not use voluntary participation. One of the most important factors of voluntary participation is the ability to decide against participating at any time. While the people who took part in the experiment began voluntarily, the prisoners were told that they could not leave until the end of the two week time period they had signed up for. When prisoners attempted to organize against this, Zimbardo ordered the guards to find ways to keep them in the experiment and force them to comply with the rules. 2. Does this research harm the participants in any way? I would argue that this research does harm the participants. While Zimbardo stressed that the guards were not allowed to use physical violence against the prisoners, he used a multitude of psychological tricks to force the prisoners to feel subordinate to the guards. The use of sunglasses at all times, for example, dehumanized the guards and helped establish a clear hierarchy of power. Furthermore, by barricading the participants in their cells and forcing them to be prisoners against their will, the experiment had the capacity to take an extreme toll on the prisoners’ mental health and could have driven them to severe psychosis or even suicide. 3. Does this research use informed consent? Technically yes, the participants signed up to be randomly assigned as prisoners or guards for a two week period and knew about this since the beginning. However, they were not told the extent to which the prison simulation would be real and were not told that they were unable to leave until the end of the two weeks. So Zimbardo, in the eyes of the law, did obtain informed consent but from a moral standpoint he abused the limited information he gave to the participants. 4. Does this research use deception? Yes, this research does use deception. To echo my answer to the previous question, he did not overtly lie to the participants when they signed up, everything that was advertised was technically true, but it was not the whole truth. Because he did not explain the extent to which the simulation would be enforced against the participants’ wills, he did deceive them. 5. Does this research provide debriefing? Yes and no. The participants did receive debriefing sessions, but those did not occur until years after the experiment took place. If the goal of debriefing is to explain to the participants the purpose of all of the actions in the experiment and explain any deceptions as to alleviate any stress or mental health burdens on the ex-participants, then this experiment failed to do so. The timing of debriefing is crucial in helping the participants recover mentally, and Zimbardo conducted his debrief way too late.

Discussion Section Exercise 3 – Research Ethics

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