Читать книгу Abnormal Psychology - William J. Ray - Страница 146

In our society, research participants have the same rights during an experiment that they have outside the experimental situation. One major one is the right to privacy. Most of us at first think of the right to privacy as the right to spend time by oneself or with others of one’s choosing, without being disturbed. This is the external manifestation of the right to privacy. But there is also an internal or intrapersonal manifestation of this right (Raebhausen & Brim, 1967). This is the right to have private thoughts or, as it is sometimes called, a private personality. This means that the thoughts and feelings of a participant should not be made public without the participant’s consent. It also means that a conversation between a participant and a scientist should be considered a private event, not a public one. This is an important consideration when studying those with mental disorders, as private events are often the focus of the research.

right to privacy: in an experiment, this means that information given by a participant to a scientist should be considered a private event, not a public one

private personality: the private thoughts of a person

Given the research participant’s right to privacy and a private personality, you may wonder how the scientist can ever report his or her findings. There are two considerations that are part of the scientist’s responsibility to the participant: confidentiality and anonymity.

The principle of confidentiality requires that the scientist not release data of a personal nature to other scientists or groups without the participant’s consent. Even during the experiment, researchers keep any personal data in a secure location and often destroy personal information once the experiment is completed.

confidentiality: a principle that requires that the scientist not release data of a personal nature to other scientists or groups without the participant’s consent

anonymity: a principle that requires that the personal identity of a given participant in a research study be kept separate from his or her data

The principle of anonymity requires that the personal identity of a given participant be kept separate from his or her data. The easiest way to accomplish this is to avoid requesting names in the first place; however, there are times when this may be impossible. Another alternative is to use code numbers that protect the identities of the participants and to destroy the list of participants’ names once the data analysis has been completed.