Ethics in Psychological Research and Clinical Practice
Open Science and Methodological Reform
The Replication Crisis and Questionable Research Practices
Psychology has faced a 'replication crisis' where many landmark findings failed to replicate. This was largely driven by Questionable Research Practices (QRPs) such as p-hacking (exploiting researcher degrees of freedom to achieve ) and publication bias (journals favoring novel, positive results).
The Registered Reports Process
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1
Researchers submit a detailed study protocol and analysis plan before data collection.
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2
The journal conducts Stage 1 peer review on the methodology.
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3
In-Principle Acceptance (IPA) is granted if the methods are robust, guaranteeing publication regardless of the outcome.
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4
Data is collected and analyzed exactly as preregistered.
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5
Stage 2 peer review checks adherence to the protocol before final publication.
What does the acronym HARKing stand for in the context of research ethics?
HARKing involves presenting a post hoc hypothesis (formulated after examining the data) as if it were an a priori hypothesis, which falsely inflates Type I error rates.
Correct answer: Hypothesizing After the Results are Known
What term describes the phenomenon where studies with null or negative findings are systematically excluded from the published literature?
The file drawer problem (a form of publication bias) occurs when researchers simply abandon null findings in their 'file drawers' rather than publishing them, skewing meta-analyses.
Correct answer: File drawer problem
Pillars of Open Science
Ethics in Big Data and Digital Phenotyping
As psychology increasingly utilizes digital trace data (e.g., smartphone sensors, social media scraping) for 'digital phenotyping', new ethical challenges arise. Issues of algorithmic bias, informed consent in passive data collection, and the de-anonymization of high-dimensional datasets require updated ethical frameworks beyond traditional IRB guidelines.