Ethical and Practical Challenges in Experimental Research
The course devotes a full session to the ethical complexities of experimental research, particularly in field settings: the tension between scientific integrity and participant autonomy, informed consent, harm minimization, and societal impact; frameworks for managing ethical dilemmas; and case studies of how researchers have handled them. There are no lecture notes for that session — it runs as a discussion of the readings below — so they are collected here rather than at the end of a chapter.
Required readings
Desposato, S. (2014). Ethical Challenges and Some Solutions for Field Experiments. Working paper, University of California, San Diego. ://www.desposato.org/ethicsfieldexperiments.pdf.
Phillips, T. (2021). Ethics of Field Experiments. Annual Review of Political Science, 24(1), 277–300. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-041719-101956
Lewis, J. (2020). Experimental Design: Ethics, Integrity, and the Scientific Method. In Handbook of Research Ethics and Scientific Integrity, 459–474. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16759-2_19
Registering for Required IRB Training at the University of Miami
University of Miami (UM) students must complete the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) program before obtaining IRB approval for any human subjects experiment. Below are the steps:
Understand the Requirement: All team members conducting human subjects research must complete CITI training for IRB approval, covering ethical and regulatory standards.
Access CITI: Go to https://www.citiprogram.org.
Register:
Click “Register” (top right).
Select “University of Miami Jackson Health Systems (SSO)” as your institution.
It will take you to UM’s SSO login page.
Agree to terms, then use your UM email (e.g.,
yourname@miami.edu) and password.
Select Course: Under “Add a Course,” pick “Human Subjects Research” and choose:
“Social & Behavioral Research – Basic/Refresher” for behavioral studies (4-6 hours).
you will be taken through a series of options for other courses, you should skip them all until your reach the final step.
Then submit.
Complete Training: Finish 11-15 modules with quizzes (80% to pass), then download your certificate.
Submit to IRB: Attach the certificate to your IRB application in IBISResearch (https://ibis-research.miami.edu/IRB).
Get Help: Email
HSRO@miami.eduor call 305-243-3195 for assistance.
Tip: Complete early (valid for 3 years) and save your certificate. You can always access it through your account on the CITI website.