Ethical Issues in Research in Clinical Psychology

The American Psychological Association (APA) has published ethical guidelines for psychologists, including standards for clinical psychologists who conduct research with human subjects. Some important aspects of these standards are listed here and in your textbook (Pomerantz, 2020, pp. 145–146):

• Researchers should obtain informed consent from prospective participants. The information they present should include the purpose and duration of the study as well as the participants' right to decline or withdraw (Standard 8.02).
• Researchers should not coerce participation by offering excessive or inappropriate rewards (financial or otherwise; Standard 8.06).
• Researchers should avoid using deception in their studies unless the prospective value of the research justifies its use and nondeceptive methods are not feasible. If deception is used, the researcher should explain it fully to participants as soon as possible and allow them to withdraw their data if they choose (Standard 8.07).
• If researchers discover that research procedures have harmed a participant, they should take reasonable steps to minimize the harm (Standard 8.08).
• Researchers should never fabricate or falsify data (Standard 8.10).
• Researchers should list themselves as authors of a study only when their contributions are justifiably substantial and the order of authorship reflects the relative contributions of the individuals involved (Standard 8.12).
• Researchers should share their data with other competent researchers who intend to reanalyze it for verification (Standard 8.14).