Ethics Education in the Behavioral & Psychological Sciences : a Mistaken Case of One - Size - Fit - All 1

Challenges in research ethics education in the behavioral and social sciences appears to stem from two distinct yet related sources. One is the use of the terms “research ethics” and “research regulations” interchangeably. And, second is the notion that the ethical and regulatory frameworks for the protection of human research participants are not applicable to the behavioral and social sciences. The unfortunate practice of using the terms research ethics and research regulations synonymously is clearly evident in most (if not all) educational and training programs that are currently available (e.g., CITI, NIH module, etc.). These programs focus mainly on the federal regulations and regulatory compliance, not on the ethical underpinnings of research with human participants. One consequence of confounding ethics and regulations is that it makes researchers more resistant to and wary of both research ethics education and regulatory compliance. Resistance to mandatory research ethics education is aggravated by the misperception among some behavioral and social scientists that the ethical framework underlying research with human participants and the ensuing regulations were designed for biomedical research and not research in the behavioral and social sciences. This misconception also adds to the challenge of research ethics education, because requiring such training is often seen as unnecessary bureaucratic oppression by both faculty and students. They often feel that the issues are irrelevant to their type of research, that is, the ethical framework and ensuing regulations fit biomedical research and not research in the behavioral or social sciences. What little truth there is to this misperception is rooted neither in the underlying ethical principles, nor in the regulations per se, but in the implementation of the regulations at the local level. For example, sometimes institutional review boards (IRB) require language in the