Psychology homework help
Case Study 1
Please read each case study and answer the questions that follow. Submit your responses to the Dropbox.
Please read each case study and answer the questions that follow.
A group of researchers were interested in studying placebo effects of medication on schizophrenic symptoms. Placebo effects are psychological effects in which symptoms seem to improve with a non-active medication. That is, people think they are getting better because the medication is supposed to make them feel better. The researchers wanted to determine if the effects of the routine medication is any different from a sugar pill. The researchers set up an agreement with a local mental hospital. Schizophrenic patients were randomly assigned to the placebo versus routine medication groups. Patients were given the placebo or routine medication daily for 5 days. The researchers recorded the symptoms of the patients over those 5 days. After the 5 days, all patients returned to their normal regimen. The patients were not told that they had been given a different medication for the course of the study. The patients’ families were also not informed of the participation in the study.
- Was informed consent obtained? Is informed consent necessary? Why or why not?
- Were the participants deceived about the true nature of the experiment? If so, was there a good reason to deceive participants?
- Were the participants debriefed? If not, should they have been debriefed?
- Was confidentiality breeched in any way? Psychology homework help
- Are there any other questionable ethical practices? Pay special attention to the APA Code of Ethics and Saint Leo University’s Core Values.
- What, if anything, did the researchers do correctly?
A researcher is interested in the effects of caffeine on memory. She is also interested in how these effects may differ for different age groups. She chooses to examine 15 year olds, 25 year olds, 35 year olds, and 45 year olds. She asks each person to sign an informed consent form explaining that this study is interested in examining age and memory. Each participant is randomly assigned to one of 3 conditions: no caffeine, 2 cups of coffee, or 4 cups of coffee. Following consumption of the coffee, participants are asked to look at a list of words and then attempt to recall as many words on the list after a 10 minute break. Following the study, she explained to the participants what she was interested in and what she hoped to find. Later, she was asked by a colleague if a friend had participated in the study. The researcher told her colleague that yes the person had participated and had a really bad memory even without any caffeine.
- Was informed consent obtained? Is informed consent necessary? Why or why not?
- Were the participants deceived about the true nature of the experiment? If so, was there a good reason to deceive participants?
- Were the participants debriefed? If not, should they have been debriefed?
- Was confidentiality breeched in any way?
- Are there any other questionable ethical practices?Pay special attention to the APA Code of Ethics and Saint Leo University’s Core Values.
What, if anything, did the researchers do correctly? Psychology homework help
