Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Graduate Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 2013 Ethical judgments of deception in psychological research Paul Lawrence Ascheman Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd Part of the Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons, and the Psychology Commons Recommended Citation Ascheman, Paul Lawrence, "Ethical judgments of deception in psychological research" (2013). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 13227. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/13227 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Ethical judgments of deception in psychological research by Paul L. Ascheman A dissertation submitted to the graduate faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Major: Psychology (Counseling Psychology) Program of Study Committee: Norman Scott, Major Professor Patrick Armstrong Douglas Bonett Philip Martin David Vogel Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 2013 Copyright © Paul L. Ascheman, 2013. All rights reserved. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... iv LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................................... v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................. vi ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................. vii CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................ 5 Social contract theory .................................................................................................................. 5 Deception research methods...................................................................................................... 16 Ethical decision-making ............................................................................................................ 24 Statement of purpose ................................................................................................................. 39 Hypotheses ................................................................................................................................ 41 CHAPTER 3. METHODS ............................................................................................................ 49 Study design .............................................................................................................................. 49 Respondents .............................................................................................................................. 50 Survey procedures ..................................................................................................................... 54 Stimulus materials ..................................................................................................................... 55 Variables of interest .................................................................................................................. 58 Measures.................................................................................................................................... 60 Data examination and statistical analyses ................................................................................. 64 CHAPTER 4. RESULTS .............................................................................................................. 68 Preliminary analyses ................................................................................................................. 68 Social contract for deception research ...................................................................................... 72 Deception research .................................................................................................................... 84 Additional analyses ................................................................................................................... 95 CHAPTER 5. DISCUSSION ...................................................................................................... 102 Social contract ......................................................................................................................... 105 Deception methods .................................................................................................................. 116 General discussion................................................................................................................... 123 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................... 130 iii APPENDIX A: Kimmel, Smith, and Klein’s (2011) Social Contract for Deception Research . 137 APPENDIX B: Sieber Taxonomy Guidelines ............................................................................ 138 APPENDIX C: Informed Consent – Stage I (Participants) ........................................................ 140 APPENDIX D: SONA Form ...................................................................................................... 142 APPENDIX E: IRB Approval Form ........................................................................................... 143 APPENDIX F: Demographic Items – Stage I (Participants) ...................................................... 144 APPENDIX G: Recruitment Email – Stage II (Researchers) ..................................................... 146 APPENDIX H: Informed Consent – Stage II (Researchers) ...................................................... 147 APPENDIX I: Demographic Items – Stage II (Researchers) ..................................................... 149 APPENDIX J : Descriptive Statistics for Demographic Items (Stages I & II) ........................... 151 APPENDIX K: Social Contract Statements (SCS) about Deception Research .......................... 153 APPENDIX L: Ethical Judgments of Deception Vignettes ........................................................ 155 APPENDIX M: Deception Vignettes ......................................................................................... 156 APPENDIX N: Ethics Position Questionnaire (EPQ) ................................................................ 159 APPENDIX O: Marlowe–Crowne Social Desirability Scale – Short Form C (MCSDS-SF) .... 160 APPENDIX P: Professional Commentary & Ethical Viewpoints .............................................. 161 APPENDIX Q: Debriefing ......................................................................................................... 163 APPENDIX R: Comparison of Deception Vignettes using Sieber Rating System .................... 164 APPENDIX S: Descriptive Statistics for Professional Commentary & Ethical Viewpoints ..... 165 APPENDIX T: Skew & Kurtosis for SCS and Deception Vignettes ......................................... 167 APPENDIX U: Descriptive Statistics for Strength of Perceived Ethicality of Deception Vignettes ..................................................................................................................................... 168 APPENDIX V: Between-Group Comparisons of Perceived Ethicality of Deception Vignettes ..................................................................................................................................... 169 APPENDIX W: Percentages of Respondents Identifying Deception Vignettes as Ethical by Group .......................................................................................................................................... 170 APPENDIX X: Pearson Correlation Matrix between Idealism, Relativism, and Strength of Perceived Ethicality Ratings of Deception Vignettes ................................................................. 171 APPENDIX Y: Pearson Correlation Matrix between Strength of Perceived Ethicality for Deception Vignettes and Strength of Agreement for Social Contract Statements ..................... 172 APPENDIX Z: Golden Rule Violations ..................................................................................... 173 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Equivalence Intervals (90% CI) for Between-Group Differences (Participants – Researchers) in Proportions of Agreement with Fundamental Statements of Social Contract……………………………………………….………………... 81 Figure 2. Equivalence Intervals (90% CI) for Between-Group Differences (Participants – Researchers) in Proportions of Agreement with Principle Statements of Social Contract………………………..……………………………………….. 82 Figure 3. Comparison of Average Strength of Perceived Ethicality of Sieber Categories by Sample……………….……………………………………………………... 86 Figure 4. Comparison of Deception Vignettes Sorted by Average Strength of Perceived Ethicality…………………………………………….………………………… 89 Figure 5. Deception Vignettes Plotted Along Rating Scale for Average Strength of Perceived Ethicality in Combined Sample…………….……………………….