Confidentiality. Participants’individual data and
responses should be confidential and guarded from
public scrutiny. Instead of names, code numbers are
typically used to protect anonymity. While the
results of the research are usually open to the pub-
lic, they are presented in such a way that no one
can identify a specific participant’s data. Finally,
clinical psychologists must obtain consent before
disclosing any confidential or personally identifiable
information in the psychologist’s writings, lectures,
or presentations in any other public media (e.g., a
television interview).
Deception. Sometimes the purpose of the
research or the meaning of a participant’s responses
is withheld. Such deception should be used only
when the research is important and there is no
alternative to the deception (i.e., when study infor-
mation beforehand might compromise participants’
data). Deception should never be used lightly.
When it is used, extreme care must be taken that
participants do not leave the research setting feeling
exploited or disillusioned. It is important that care-
ful debriefing be undertaken so that participants are
told exactly why the deception was necessary. We
do not want participants’ levels of interpersonal
trust to be shaken. Clearly, it is very important
how we obtain informed consent when deception
is involved.
An example of the need for deception in a
study might be an experiment in which it is pre-
dicted that the viewing of gun magazines (or other
materials associated with potential violence) will
lead to increased scores on a questionnaire measur-
ing hostility. All participants are told that the exper-
iment is one focusing on short-term memory, and
they will be completing a memory task on two
occasions separated by a 15-minute waiting period
during which they will be reading magazine arti-
cles. All participants first complete baseline measures
(including the hostility questionnaire). Next, all
participants complete a computer-administered
memory task. During the waiting period, the
experimental group is told to read selections from
a gun magazine that is made available in the lab; the
control group is told to read selections from a
nature magazine (neutral with regard to violent
imagery). All participants later complete the
computer-administered memory task again. Finally,
all participants complete the battery of self-report
instruments a second time.
We are not so much interested in the viability
of this hypothesis as we are in the need for some
deception in the experiment. As you can see, to tellBOX4-6 Who Should Be Studied?For some time, clinical psychologists conducting
research have been criticized for primarily using sam-
ples of convenience. Typically, the criticism has focused
on the use of college undergraduates in analog
research. However, over the past few decades, a great
deal of concern has been expressed over the relative
lack of research using women, youth, and/or ethnic
minority participants. Specifically, some feel that too
many studies use samples composed predominantly of
adult White males. Some feel that the conclusions
reached regarding psychological problems and their
treatment may not be valid for women, youth, or for
people of color.
Not only have these concerns heightened clinical
scientists’awareness of these issues but more formalrequirements for those studies supported by U.S.
government funds are now in place. The National
Institutes of Health (NIH) now has a policy regarding
the inclusion of women, youth, and members of
minority groups in all studies involving human
participants.
Specifically, these groups must be represented
in NIH-supported projects unless a clear and com-
pelling rationale establishes that inclusion is inap-
propriate with respect to participants’health or to
the purpose of the study. In this way, major research
projects can address whether the general conclusions
reached for men, adults, or for White participants
also hold for women, youth, and for members of
minority groups.RESEARCH METHODS IN CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY 121