Empirical research on research ethics

Ethics is normative; ethics indicates, in broad terms, what researchers should do. For example, researchers should respect human participants. Empirical study tells us what actually happens. Empirical research is often needed to fine-tune the best ways to achieve normative objectives, for example, to discover how best to achieve the dual aims of gaining important knowledge and respecting participants. Ethical decision making by scientists and institutional review boards should not be based on hunches and anecdotes (e.g., about such matters as what information potential research participants would want to know and what they understand, or what they consider to be acceptable risks). These questions should be answered through empirical research. Some of the preceding articles in this special issue illustrate uses of empirical research on research ethics. This article places empirical research on research ethics into broader perspective and challenges investigators to use the tools of their disciplines to proactively solve ethical problems for which there currently exist no empirically proven solutions.     

Integrating brain science research with intelligence research

Understanding the possible causes of differences in intelligence is crucial if children are to achieve their full potential. Such understanding has been hampered until recently, however, because researchers who study intelligence have neglected recent findings in the brain sciences suggesting that the brain develops in response to environmental stimulation. These findings have seemed to contradict intelligence research that suggests that intellectual abilities are inherited. However, the findings from intelligence research and the brain sciences can be integrated if it is accepted that there are individual differences in the process by which the brain adapts to the environment, such that some people's brains are better at adapting than others'. The findings obtained from intelligence research are consistent with this integrated model. Such an integration has implications for better understanding the nature of intelligence.     

Honest research

The origins of research projects, the duties of supervisors and research workers, the subjective elements in research and the difficulties of publication are reviewed, as a guide to the complexities of executing an honest research project. It is assumed that research carried out with maximal intellectual integrity will result in real advances.     

Expanding our research and practice through innovative research methods

In this article, we argue that work and organizational psychology is still dominated by quantitative research studies based on positivist beliefs about the conduct of research. Drawing on Symon and Cassell (1999), we suggest a number of reasons for this continuing situation and outline the ways in which this special issue seeks to overcome some of these “barriers to change”. We draw attention to the contrasting epistemological beliefs that might inform different research projects and which are illustrated in the articles presented here. The collected articles also demonstrate the insights that using qualitative methods can provide on a wide range of (very practical) organizational issues. We conclude by recommending the consideration of alternative approaches and practices to European w/o psychologists.     

Contributions of qualitative research to the validity of intervention research

The Interdisciplinary Qualitative Research Subcommittee (IQRS) of the Task for on Evidence-based Interventions in School Psychology assumed the responsibility of developing criteria for reviewing qualitative methods used in intervention research. The IQRS, composed primarily of psychologists and anthropologists, was confronted with the long-standing debate between qualitative and quantitative researchers and with the task of explicating the potential contributions of qualitative research to establishing an evidence base for interventions in school psychology. Consequently, the outcomes of the subcommittee's work included not only a set of criteria for evaluating qualitative research but also a clearer understanding of the added value of mixed qualitative-quantitative approaches to intervention research. The purposes of this article are to provide an overview of qualitative research, present the criteria set forth by the IQRS, discuss the role of qualitative research in establishing the foundation for evidence-based practice, and introduce the illustrative research articles of the special issue. The four studies highlighted in this issue represent applications of qualitative research that meet the IQRS criteria and demonstrate the potential of qualitative research, conducted within a mixed-method framework, for enhancing our understanding of school-based interventions.