Research/Ethics Question

[Mr Violin]

In a quarter or so I need to do some research and a write up for an undergrad class and wanted to get started now because I am excited (I am now officially a psych nerd).

The only population we get access to as far as data gathering goes is new psych majors (talk about nonrepresentative sample and convenience sampling not to mention making students be involved in research for grades, hehe).

Anyway after reading Why God Won't Go Away: Brain Science & The Biology of Belief (thanks to the people that posted this in the must read thread )I thought it would be interesting to further look into the possibility of religious belief and the sort of resilence it (may or may not) endows believers to certain mental illnesses as discussed in the aformentioned book. My question is, before I started reading a bunch of research in the area, does anyone see any potential ethical red flags that would not allow me to ask people the sorts of questions needed to collect data on this subject? Can I ask people in an anonymous survey situation whether or not they believe in god...if so which god/an afterlife/whether they have been diagnosed with an affective or anxiety disorder/ the duration etc.

I guess I want to check and see if fear of death/nonexistence and/or a lack of universal life meaning (how the heck I would do this I do not know yet) could influence the course of affective/anxiety disorders. Before I proceed though I want to make sure I would even be able to do this study! I am pretty new to the whole ethics side of psychology so sorry if the answer here is obvious.

I would greatly appreciate any feedback!

Thanks!

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[paramour]

Anyway after reading Why God Won't Go Away: Brain Science & The Biology of Belief (thanks to the people that posted this in the must read thread )I thought it would be interesting to further look into the possibility of religious belief and the sort of resilence it (may or may not) endows believers to certain mental illnesses as discussed in the aformentioned book. My question is, before I started reading a bunch of research in the area, does anyone see any potential ethical red flags that would not allow me to ask people the sorts of questions needed to collect data on this subject? Can I ask people in an anonymous survey situation whether or not they believe in god...if so which god/an afterlife/whether they have been diagnosed with an affective or anxiety disorder/ the duration etc.

Religiosity/spirituality questions themselves should not be a problem. This was one area included within my master's thesis, and I had considerably more difficulty getting people to agree to the sexual satisfaction component. My concern would actually be with asking people if they have been diagnosed with an affective/anxiety disorder. If they have been, then you must be prepared with a plan of action if your research distresses them. Obviously, you should already consider this for all research participants, but I have found that diagnosed individuals tend to require more planning & resources. I am uncertain where you attend, so this may not be a problem, but my previous institution strongly discouraged one from the use of diagnosed or 'psychologically troubled' populations. If you have the resources, go for it. I doubt it will be the religiosity aspect that will slow you down.

G'luck!

 

[erg923]

I was asked pretty sensitive questions when I was taking research questionnaires as an undergrad. During my masters program, one of my fellow class mates have anonymous surveys to undergrads regarding their views and personal involvement in viewing online pornography and sex in general. Regardless, I assume you would have to go through some kind of IRB at your university to get the approval. Work with your adviser and discuss any precautions and issues you will need keep in mind when writing the IRB proposal.

 

[JockNerd]

I asked undergrads all sorts of sexy questions for my honours thesis. I'm sure you'll be fine.

The sort of thing you're asking about, though, has been studied before (if I'm reading your post correctly) and fairly in-depth. The area of research has advanced to focuses on specific populations (e.g. religious affiliation benefits for LGB persons). It's also going to be difficult to look at mental illness resilience in a bunch of fairly well-off college kids. So, I might suggest altering that focus a little. Once you hit the lit on the topic I think you can come up with something cool.

 

[Mr Violin]

Paramour and erg923: Thank you both for your advice and tips. I think I will go ahead and start researching as it seems with some precaution I should be able to proceed!

 

[Mr Violin]

I asked undergrads all sorts of sexy questions for my honours thesis. I'm sure you'll be fine.

The sort of thing you're asking about, though, has been studied before (if I'm reading your post correctly) and fairly in-depth. The area of research has advanced to focuses on specific populations (e.g. religious affiliation benefits for LGB persons). It's also going to be difficult to look at mental illness resilience in a bunch of fairly well-off college kids. So, I might suggest altering that focus a little. Once you hit the lit on the topic I think you can come up with something cool.

Yeah I figured as much, but I wanted to at least figure out if I could ask the potential types of questions I think I might need to ask before I started going crazy with lit searches and refining my ideas.

To the second sentence in bold: That is a good point and something I will have to take into consideration but I also have to keep in mind that it is the only population I have to work with for this project based on the limitations that are set. Maybe I can find some weird student twist to it to make my sample more representative hehe.

Thank you for your input! I now know I have a lot of work to do!

 

[LedZepp007]

Yeah I figured as much, but I wanted to at least figure out if I could ask the potential types of questions I think I might need to ask before I started going crazy with lit searches and refining my ideas.

To the second sentence in bold: That is a good point and something I will have to take into consideration but I also have to keep in mind that it is the only population I have to work with for this project based on the limitations that are set. Maybe I can find some weird student twist to it to make my sample more representative hehe.

Thank you for your input! I now know I have a lot of work to do!

jocknerd is 100% right. This sort of thing has been done 300 times already (not that it isn't cool). If you have a lot of time, energy, and potential participants, you could potentially use some sort of screening measure to generally assess whether mental illness is present and to what degree (although finding/creating a convincing measure of this sort might prove challenging). Does your school have a clinic? Access to a clinical population might be exactly what you need to do this study successfully.

If you are unsure about methodology, you should always check the literature for ideas and established measures.

And as far as using women sophomore Psych majors for P's is something we all have to deal with... learn to live with it.

 

[JockNerd]

And as far as using women sophomore Psych majors for P's is something we all have to deal with... learn to live with it.

After your senior thesis is done it's a pretty good idea to ditch the p pool and never look back.

 

[paramour]

After your senior thesis is done it's a pretty good idea to ditch the p pool and never look back.

It may be a good idea but not always possible (and/or extremely difficult), dependent upon your university/program, location, advisor, funding, etc.

I am extremely thankful for some resources that have been made available to me so that I am not required to use the p pool (that sounds icky! ) for my current research project, but I know others, with related research topics, who are out-of-luck unless they use the cesspool from the psych dept.