Select one of the following ethical scenarios and answer the following questions fully and completely:
1.Identify fully the ethical problem(s) by relating specifics in the scenario to specific issues identified in our textbook. (Note: Be sure to cite the textbook as appropriate and include it in the “Works Cited” section).
2.Describe your reactions to the scenario. Do you feel this is a serious problem, or is it a relatively minor problem? Explain your response fully.
3.What should have been done to make the activity more ethically appropriate? That is, what procedures should have been followed to make the research more acceptable? Explain fully.
Scenario 1: Throughout the semester, a professor of criminal justice asks students in an Introduction to Criminal Justice class to complete questionnaires of a personal nature such as their criminal or delinquent activities, their victimization experiences, their opinions about the police, etc. The professor intends to analyze the information to prepare a journal article for publication. The professor has not disclosed this fact to the students.
Scenario 2: As part of a course on Social Problems, a criminal justice professor requires students to phone the local domestic violence hotline, pretend to be a victim, and request assistance. Students are then required to call a local suicide prevention hotline, pretend to be suicidal, and request assistance. Students are required to write up a description of the assistance offered by both the DV and Suicide hotline staffs and submit it to the professor for a grade.
Scenario 3: A researcher is interested in speeding in an urban expressway. The researcher uses a small radar gun to detect speeders, while a research assistant records the licenses numbers of all vehicles traveling at least 10 MPH over the posted speed limit. The speeders’ addresses are then traced and they receive a mailed questionnaire with a cover letter that begins: “On [such and such date and time], you were observed traveling more than 10 miles per hour over the posted speed limit on [location of the expressway]…” The recipient of the letter is then asked to complete a survey regarding their driving behavior.
