Ethical Issues in Research Studies

When conducting research studies, the researcher needs to be following ethical research principles. Failure to observe ethical research principles when conducting research can lead to the rejection of the research findings. One should therefore be familiar with the research resources before conducting a research study. This paper will analyze different unethical mistakes done in different research studies and how the researchers could have prevented the mistakes.

In the Stanford Prison Experiment, the first problem was that it was unsafe for prisoners. In order to come up with findings, the guards mistreated and humiliated the prisoners in harmful ways. The guards had physical confrontations, such as stripping the prisoners, which led to psychological stress and their rebellion against the guards (Cherry, 2021). The second mistake that Zimbardo had was that he had researcher bias. In the Stanford Prison Experiment, the guards are biased when it comes to the prisoners. When the prisoners start rebelling, the guards decide to maintain order by using prisoners against themselves. The guards give privileges to some of the prisoners while the other prisoners only watch. The use of researcher bias among the prisoners contributed to the failure of the Stanford Prison Experiment. Zimbardo also failed in providing a review board for an oversight. Zimbardo had no initial plans that were necessary for performing the Stanford Prison Experiment. For instance, the guards had no training in the proper handling of the prisoners as Zimbardo lacked a review board for oversight. He, therefore, did not see the urgency in training the guards for a successful experiment. However, the Stanford Prison Experiment would have emerged victorious if Zimbardo had ensured the safety of his subjects, ensured equal treatment of prisoners, and planned the guards’ training.

Dr. John Money’s research study on the concept of gender is learned ethical issues that led to the research study’s failure. The subject used for the experiment was not asked for consent to perform the surgery as the subject was only a child. The experiment might have had psychological impacts on the child as he grew to know himself (Moletotov, 2020). The child was not able to make meaningful decisions, which might have contributed to the psychological torture the child had as an adult. However, for the research study to emerge successfully, Dr. John Money would have considered using an adult as the subject. An adult can make sound decisions, and probably the child would not have committed suicide as an adult at the age of 38.

Stanley Milgram’s research study has been criticized for different ethical issues. Stanley failed in his research study because he failed to be transparent with his subject. Although there was no actual shock, it was unethical of Stanley to treat the subjects without care. Mistreating subjects was not the best way to enforce obedience in the learning process. Rather than creating positive impacts on the subjects, the experiment might have given the subjects psychological stress and torture which might have remained in the mind of the subjects in the long run (Ethical Problems, 2021).  For the research study to become successful, Stanley Milgram might have considered treating the subjects with care and understand the ethics procedure in handling human subjects.

In all three research studies, it is notable that the researchers are responsible for the faults of the research study. For future research studies to be successful, researchers should clearly understand and implement ethical standards in their research. The researchers should also understand the need to be lenient to the subjects they use during experiments.

References

Cherry, K. (2021). Why the Stanford Prison Experiment Is Still Infamous Decades Later. Verywell Mind. Retrieved 18 September 2021, from https://www.verywellmind.com/the-stanford-prison-experiment-2794995.

Ethical Problems. (2021). Ethical Problems. The Milgram Experiment. Retrieved 18 September 2021, from https://milligram.weebly.com/ethical-problems.html#:~:text=The%20ethical%20issues%20involved%20with,administering%20shocks%20to%20real%20people.

Moletotov, R. (2020). What are the ethical issues in the Stanford Prison Experiment?. Askinglot.com. Retrieved 18 September 2021, from https://askinglot.com/what-are-the-ethical-issues-in-the-stanford-prison-experiment.