Debriefing (Methods)

Use of Deception in Research

Deception is a technique used during the conduct of research in principally two ways. The first way is outright misinformation, whereby the participants in a research project are proactively and purposefully given false or intentionally misleading information. The second way is a more passive means of the omission of some key piece of information or through providing vague, ambiguous information. Outright misinformation or false information is typically used to manipulate the participant in some way to elicit behavior such that the behavior is not biased by knowing what is actually being studied. For example, when studying what may be considered socially negative behaviors, such as dishonesty, discriminatory attitudes, or relationship aggression, if people were told that is what is being studied, they would be less likely to express or exhibit the negative thoughts or behaviors; in other words, they may show a response bias. To avoid response bias, people may be given false information about the purpose of the study or about the tasks and activities of the study. Similarly, participants may be told that they will be working with other participants when in fact the others are confederates, or part of the research team, so that what appears to be a spontaneous activity is actually a controlled part of the study. Incomplete disclosure is a milder form of deception in that the participants are generally just not given all of the information they need to be fully informed about the research, such as being told the purpose of the study is about social perception when it is more specifically about racism. Social perception is not wrong; it is just vague because telling the real purpose might bias responses.

The primary ethical issue is that the use of deception is a direct affront to the fundamental ethical principle of respect for persons as articulated in the Belmont Report of 1979, which summarizes the ethical principles and guidelines for the protection of human subjects of biomedical and behavioral research in accordance with the National Research Act (Pub. L. 93-348) of 1974. One facet of respect for persons is the right to voluntary participation. The principle of voluntary participation includes that individuals who are recruited to participate in research are fully informed of the purpose of the research, the procedures involved, and risks of participation. When there is deception or incomplete disclosure, this means some part of the study was not presented in a way that is sufficiently accurate to meet the expectation of informed consent to participate.

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