Will the new code help researchers to be more ethical?

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Research Ethics

Background:

• Professional codes of ethics aim to set conduct standards and educate on ethical behavior.
• The American Psychological Association (APA) recently updated its code of ethics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of the new APA ethics code in addressing research ethics.
• To identify deficiencies in the code regarding ethical research conduct and education.

Main Methods:

• Content analysis of the American Psychological Association's code of ethics.
• Identification of specific areas lacking sufficient guidance on research ethics.

Main Results:

• The code partially succeeds in setting minimal conduct standards for research.
• Significant deficiencies exist in areas including privacy, confidentiality, institutional review boards, deception, debriefing, data sharing, and research with vulnerable populations (children, adolescents, marginalized groups, organizational contexts).
• The code fails to provide educational resources or guidance for further learning on research ethics.

Conclusions:

• The APA ethics code requires substantial revision to effectively educate researchers and provide comprehensive guidance.
• Development of supplementary resources, both print and online, is recommended to foster independent scholarship and education in research ethics.