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

The contributions of prospective participant perspectives to ethical d ecisions regarding the design and institutional review board (IRB) app roval of deceptive research are considered in terms of American Psycho logical Association ethical guidelines and current theoretical, empiri cal, and metaethical frameworks. The value of participant-investigator partnerships is illustrated through a study assessing how college stu dents rate the scientific merits, methodological alternatives, psychol ogical discomfort, efficacy of dehoaxing, and cost-benefit balance of three recently published deception studies. Enhancing the protection o f human subjects participating in deceptive research is discussed in t erms of the compatibility of deceptive practices with the moral ideolo gies of participants and the challenges to ethical decision making rai sed by the interpretation and application of data based on participant perspectives.