Greetings Dr. Research Advisor,
I am writing you in regard to my current research into the induction of new recruits
into a military training establishment. Thus far, all has gone well with the exception
of an incident I observed this morning. During my daily observations throughout
the training establishment, I observed two staff verbally degrading a new recruit
while they continually shoved down, struck him with various objects, and
repeatedly forced him to recite the institution's mantra while utilizing the
aforementioned techniques to incite error on part of the recruit, thus continuing the
process. I am writing you to express not only the concern for the current and
future recruits, but my ethical obligations instilled by the APA Code of Conduct
and how I ought to proceed. b
First, during the 8-week course of this research, this is the first time I have
observed any behaviors or interactions remotely similar to what I witnessed this
morning. Additionally, there have been no mentions of safety concerns, fear of
harm, or descriptions by any of the other 44 recruits that would indicate use of the
initiation techniques that I observed today. That being said, I am beginning to
worry about the reactivity of the participants and whether or not the interaction I
witnessed this morning is a means for the staff to force the recruits to act,
respond, and behave in certain ways to elicit a specific outcome of my research.
While everyone knows of my presence, my role in being here, and the intent of
the research in accordance with APA code of conduct principle of Fidelity and
Responsibility, I am wondering if my presence is consequently violating the
principle of beneficence and nonmaleficence. Therefore, I believe one course of
action I can take is reduce the timeframe of my research and complete the
research tomorrow and use 7-weeks of data instead of the proposed 8-weeks. The
main motivation behind the decision to terminate the research early is due to the
belief that my research has resulted in harm coming to the recruits of my
research. Furthermore, in order to minimize harm in accordance with APA code
8.08 Debriefing, I believe cessation of my presence is the best course of action.
Alternatively, while my primary concern is the reduction of harm and safety of my
research participants, I also worry that the reactivity of the participants may have
skewed the potential findings of my research. Moreover, since the aforementioned
initiation techniques have been used on one of my participants, this raises the
question of the likelihood that additional recruits have received similar treatment
without my knowledge. Furthermore, while the military institution does not have an
explicit statement or description of how new recruits are trained here in order to
enter the military, I do not believe these actions align with the principles and
ethical obligations afforded to human research participants as stated by APA code
1.03 Conflicts Between Ethics and Organizational Demands. In addition to
treatment of this one recruit and potential similar treatment to other recruits, APA
code 8.10 Reporting Research Results demands we do not publish fabricated data
or data with significant errors. While my data and current methods do align
appropriately with the procedures laid out in my proposal, I do believe that the
integrity of this research has been compromised considering the premise of my
research is on non-corporal initiation techniques. Furthermore, if I were to continue
and publish my findings with the premise of non-corporal techniques, I would be
misrepresenting facts and knowingly engaging in research that may be causing
harm which directly contradicts principles, A (do no harm), B (acknowledge my
presence may be precipitating harm), C (misrepresentation of fact), D (my
participants may be experiencing more harm than benefits of my research), and
APA codes 8.08, and 8.10.
Overall, I do believe the best course of action is to terminate and debrief my
research immediately and conduct exit debriefing tomorrow. Additionally, I am
unsure of the validity of my research given the potential reactivity from the recruits.
Therefore, I believe that extensive review of my data is needed in order to
determine the validity and potential research, scientific, and education benefits my
research could pose. I look forward to discussing this matter with you further and
implementing an efficacious solution.
Respectfully,
American Psychological Association. (2017). Ethical principles of psychologists
and code of conduct (2002, amended effective June 1, 2010, and January 1,
2017). https://www.apa.org/ethics/code/
