PARTICIPANT PARTNERS - COLLEGE-STUDENTS WEIGH THE COSTS AND BENEFITS OF DECEPTIVE RESEARCH

The contributions of prospective participant perspectives to ethical decisions regarding the design and institutional review board (IRB) approval of deceptive research are considered in terms of American Psychological Association ethical guidelines and current theoretical, empirical, and metaethical frameworks. The value of participant-investigator partnerships is illustrated through a study assessing how college students rate the scientific merits, methodological alternatives, psychological discomfort, efficacy of dehoaxing, and cost-benefit balance of three recently published deception studies. Enhancing the protection of human subjects participating in deceptive research is discussed in terms of the compatibility of deceptive practices with the moral ideologies of participants and the challenges to ethical decision making raised by the interpretation and application of data based on participant perspectives.