⚖️Ethics and Liability
Human Subject Research
CITI Training
All researchers must have active Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) training to interact with participants or assist in data collection and analysis. Everyone in the lab is responsible for keeping their CITI training up to date. For our lab, you need to complete all the modules within the Group 2 Social / Behavioral Research Investigators and Key Personnel.
See Instructions on how to complete the CITI Training
IRB
The Institutional Review Board (IRB) is an independent body at universities (and other research-producing entities) charged with ethical oversight of human subjects research. Essentially, the IRB determines whether the potential scientific or societal benefits of a proposed study outweigh the risks and/or costs to subjects, researchers, and society. They also ensure no ethical violations are committed and issue sanctions/corrective action if any do occur.
Typically, one of the graduate students or post-Docs, currently Alex, oversees submitting and amending IRB protocols, closing out or renewing expired protocols, and reporting any violations to an approved protocol. Part of this process is having all researchers for a study listed on the protocol and approved prior to them being able to interact with subjects or data. This requires each researcher to complete CITI training (see above) which expires after a few years and must be “renewed.”
When a study is approved by the IRB, a notice will be sent out to all researchers. Until that time, researchers are not to recruit participants (including posting flyers or advertisements), interact with participants, or assist with data analysis.
Since each university has its own IRB, practices are not standardized across universities. The Georgia Tech IRB tends to be strict given that Tech is a world-class research university whose reputation depends on conducting research ethically. Any violations to the protocol must be reported immediately to a lab manager, graduate student, or Randy. Major violations ought to be reported directly to Randy. Bring the issue up with him prior to alerting any third-party individuals (e.g., a member of the IRB), unless the safety of you or the participant is threatened.
Informed Consent & Consent Forms
All participants have the right to be informed about the benefits and risks of a study and what their role in a study is before making an informed decision about participating. Thus, we have a consent form approved by the IRB and given to the participant before they participate in the study in any form. Along with giving them the consent form, researchers should give participants a simple verbal explanation of what they will be doing, how long the study is, and their compensation. The researcher also needs to make abundantly clear that the subject should feel comfortable with asking the experimenter(s) questions. You should ask them whether they have any questions about the consent form, their rights as participants, the demographics form, or any facet of the study before proceeding to data collection. It is important that the researcher is confident that the participant understands their role in the study and their rights as a participant.
If the participant asks you a question that you do not know how to answer, find a graduate student and/or supervisor.
Participants may withdraw from the study at any time for any reason. If this happens, do not pressure the participant to continue. You may ask what prompted them to withdraw, but nothing further and do not press the issue. Additionally, the participant is to receive prorated compensation for their time if they withdrew after signing the consent form.
If a participant opts to withdraw from a study, pay them what they would have gotten for finishing the session (minus any completion or performance bonuses) and then make a note in the database not to contact them about participating in future research. After payment, tell the withdrawing participant that they will not be contacted for future studies, nor will they be eligible for any future studies. DO NOT use this to coerce them into continuing with a session if they have already expressed their desire to withdraw, and only inform them of this after they have withdrawn and been compensated.
Remember, participants are volunteering in the study. While good data is a high priority, it takes just one disgruntled or mistreated participant to bring this entire lab down.
Participant Confidentiality
Participants have the expectation of privacy and confidentiality. Their participation and involvement in our studies will not be discussed with anyone outside of the lab, nor will any of their demographics, personal information, or data. As a professional working in our lab, you are not to contact, engage, or fraternize with participants for non-lab related issues.
Participant Folders
Participant folders contain sensitive demographic information and link participant names to their subject ID. As such, it is important to keep these folders filed away in their designated cabinet. For the experimenter’s convenience, folders are kept with subjects in the testing room. This is the only exception. When a participant is scheduled to come in soon, it is permissible to take their folder out. However, the folder should only be taken out of the control room by a lab manager or graduate student, or when the participant is moving to a testing room.
HIPAA
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) outlines the standards for exchanging private and/or secure health information. Violations to HIPAA are taken very seriously and MUST not happen in the lab. Violations will quickly lead to the lab being investigated and/or shut down.
Hence, any information about a participant cannot be shared with anyone outside of the approved researchers listed on the IRB protocol. Typically, that means everyone except the lab manager, graduate students, Randy, undergraduate researchers, and collaborators. Confidential information about participants includes (but is not limited to):
their participation in the study,
their age or date of birth,
demographic information,
social security number,
any data pertaining to their participation in a current or past study. This simply means that researchers should not discuss any information about participants or their individual scores on tasks to anyone outside of our lab.
For this reason, all data are linked only to a subject number and not a name, and demographic information is physically stored in a cabinet in our control room that is locked when a qualified researcher is not present. Besides these folders, the only place in which subject numbers are linked to names is the subject database. This database is only on our main control room computer and is not to be shared in any way.
Do not share confidential participant information via text or email, as these media may not be secure. Occasionally participants may ask for their individual scores. If that happens, alert a lab manager or graduate student and we will talk to the individual.
Lab Culture
Academic Honesty
Science does not work without trust, honesty, and transparency, and academic dishonesty undermines the scientific enterprise. If you suspect someone in the lab of falsifying or fabricating data, or plagiarizing the work of another scholar, report it to Randy at once. His cell number is listed above.
Discrimination & Harassment
Our purpose in this lab is to do the best science possible. As such, lab members should feel safe and reasonably comfortable in the lab and can expect a work environment free of discrimination or harassment based on race, gender, ethnicity, nationality, religion, ability, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic irrelevant to your capacity to contribute to good science. Further, you should expect respect from your co-workers and supervisors, period. If you have a concern about discrimination or harassment regarding a participant or another RA, do not hesitate to reach out to a graduate student or lab manager. If you have a concern about a graduate student, lab manager, or Post-Doc, do not hesitate to reach out to Randy. Please review Georgia Tech’s anti-harassment policy here.
Safety
Our lab is different from most labs in that a lot of our participants come from the community around us (many labs just test introductory psych students). Some of these community members have medical conditions and/or clinical pathologies. As such, we need to take additional precautions to ensure the safety of researchers and the community participants. There is an elevated risk for problems and, though rare, they do occur (we have stories). In the event of the following, report to your supervising graduate student immediately:
at any point during the consent process or after, you feel as though a participant does not have the mental capacity to understand their rights, and/or cannot fulfill the requirements of the study,
you suspect that a participant needs medical or psychological assistance,
you feel threatened by or uneasy around a participant,
you witness a participant committing a crime, or
you suspect a participant is lying about their identity or otherwise attempting to defraud the lab.
If you or a participant are injured or otherwise need immediate assistance, contact 911.
Theft
Stealing from other individuals in the lab will not be tolerated. Stealing from the lab itself will not be tolerated and will also potentially be prosecuted.
Our lab is funded primarily through grants from U.S. government agencies, including the military. Thus, anything belonging to the lab or that has been purchased with lab (grant) funds not only belongs to Georgia Tech, but is also the property of the U.S. government and often the U.S. military. If you steal from the lab you are stealing from the United States military and/or government and will potentially face federal charges.
We will report all cases of theft to the proper authorities. Additionally, theft involving expensive lab equipment, equipment containing data or other participant information, or theft/fraud involving participant payment will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of GT, municipal, state, and federal law.
Inappropriate & Criminal Behavior
Inappropriate or criminal behavior of any kind will not be tolerated. If you suspect, witness, or are the victim of any behavior that can be considered a violation of protocol, ethics, or law then you are obligated to report this to another lab member or the proper authorities.
It is strongly preferred that all inappropriate and criminal behavior first be reported to a lab manager or graduate student who will determine the proper course of action and seek resolution. If the issue is serious or involves a graduate student, talk to Randy about it. It is desirable to address any issues in-house before deciding whether the violation warrants reporting to a third-party (school chair, dean, provost, IRB, police, FBI, etc.), as false alarms can often involve swift and harsh action that could put lab members or the lab as a whole at risk.
Graduate students and PIs are “responsible employees,” meaning they are ethically obligated to report any suspicion of wrongdoing committed by or against any of our employees, even if off campus (if we have reason to believe it is affecting an individual within the lab).
Minor protocol or ethical violations should be reported to the lab manager or a graduate student for discussion of the issue and immediate correction. In the case of minor violations, the goal is to fix the problem and ensure it is not repeated. More severe protocol violations should be reported directly to Randy.
Data Policies
Data Ownership
Data collected in the lab belong first to the university and potentially the agency funding the research as well. The principal investigator (PI) is commonly dubbed the “steward of the data,” while graduate students and occasionally undergraduates are permitted to analyze and publish the data. All issues regarding use of data from the lab MUST be discussed with Randy, the lab PI.
As such, no one owns any of the data collected in the lab. Therefore, undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral researchers do not have the right to keep, publish, or disseminate data without express permission from the PI (Randy). Do not take data home with you, share it with anyone, or attempt to use data without explicit permission from Randy. This includes, but is not limited to conference submissions, journal manuscripts, class projects, and undergraduate theses.
For more information on data, refer to RCR Data Acquisition Management and Responsible Conduct in Data Management.
Data & Computer Security
All researchers are responsible for ensuring that data and participant information are not at high risk of being leaked or stolen. This involves the following:
lab doors are to be shut and locked when no one is in the room,
computers are logged off when not in use,
participant files are to be either with a researcher or filed away in the control room, and the control room is either locked or has a qualified researcher in it, and
participants are not allowed into the control room or other lab space except the waiting room, running rooms, and common areas (hallways, bathrooms, etc.). (Exceptions include when rescheduling participants for their next session, but participants are NEVER to be left alone in the control room or with access to the control room.)
Lab Material
Lab materials, whether physical or electronic, should never leave this lab without permission. This includes, but is not limited to, lab equipment, consent forms, data in any form, manuscripts or write-ups, presentations, etc.
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