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Ethical Challenges in the Undergraduate Context: Navigating the Ethical Landscape
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by Daniel M. Niederjohn and Maureen A. McCarthy - Kennesaw State University, R. Eric Landrum - Boise State University
Although the American Psychological
Association (APA) (Guidelines for the
Undergraduate Major, 2007) recommends
that students learn about the APA Ethics Code
(Goal 2, Point 1, Subpoint e), most undergraduate
programs do not offer a course in ethics (Stoloff
et al., 2010), and only limited training, usually in
the context of research methods or experimental
psychology is provided. Most texts in these
courses include a historical account of some of
the most egregious ethical violations in humansubjects
research, how these incidents spurred the
development of legal regulations and ethical codes
of conduct, and how research should be ethically
conducted. Quite often, students may be directed
to a web tutorial (e.g., www.citiprogram.org) for
additional training, certification, and background
information. In fact, student researchers must
receive training in ethics if they are to be involved,
in any capacity, in research. Although training in
research ethics is extremely important and relevant,
the APA’s Ethical Principles of Psychologists and
Code of Conduct (hereafter referred to as the Ethics
Code; APA, 2010) provides guidance for the broader
set of professional activities of a psychologist. The
purpose of this article is to look beyond regulatory
guidelines and address the two ethical arenas that
we consider more likely to affect undergraduate
students, namely authorship and boundaries.
Fall 2011 | Psi Chi Journal of Undergraduate Research (Vol. 16, No. 3, p. 143), published by Psi Chi, The International Honor Society in Psychology (Chattanooga, TN). Copyright, 2011, Psi Chi, The International Honor Society in Psychology. All rights reserved.