Page 181 - [Uma_Sekaran]_Research_methods_for_business__a_sk(BookZZ.org)

ETHICAL ISSUES IN EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN RESEARCH 165

presented keep changing in response to the reactions of the individual (the pilot,
the driver, or the emergency handler) to the previous stimulus presented, and
not in any predetermined order. Entire business operations, from office layout
to profitability, can be simulated using different prospective scenarios. With
increasing access to sophisticated technology, and the advancement of mathe-
matical models, simulation is becoming an important managerial decision-mak-
ing tool. It is quite likely that we will see simulation being used as a managerial
tool to enhance motivation, leadership, and the like, in the future. Simulation
can also be applied as a problem-solving managerial tool in other behavioral
and administrative areas. Programmed, computer-based simulation models in
behavioral areas could serve managerial decision making very well indeed.

ETHICAL ISSUES IN EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN RESEARCH

It is appropriate at this juncture to briefly discuss a few of the many ethical issues
involved in doing research, some of which are particularly relevant to conduct-
ing lab experiments. The following practices are considered unethical:

• Putting pressure on individuals to participate in experiments through coercion,
or applying social pressure.
• Giving menial tasks and asking demeaning questions that diminish their self-
respect.
• Deceiving subjects by deliberately misleading them as to the true purpose of
the research.
• Exposing participants to physical or mental stress.
• Not allowing subjects to withdraw from the research when they want to.
• Using the research results to disadvantage the participants, or for purposes not
to their liking.
• Not explaining the procedures to be followed in the experiment.
• Exposing respondents to hazardous and unsafe environments as we saw ear-
lier in the case of Johns Hopkins University.
• Not debriefing participants fully and accurately after the experiment is over.
• Not preserving the privacy and confidentiality of the information given by the
participants.
• Withholding benefits from control groups.

The last item is somewhat controversial as to whether or not it should be an
ethical dilemma, especially in organizational research. If three different incentives
are offered for three experimental groups and none is offered to the control
group, it is a fact that the control group has participated in the experiment with
absolutely no benefit. Similarly, if four different experimental groups receive four
different levels of training but the control group does not, the other four groups