Ethical issues in a study of Internet use: uncertainty, responsibility, and the spirit of research relationships

In this article we explore ethical issues arising in a study of home Internet use by low-income families. We consider questions of our responsibility as educational researchers and discuss the ethical implications of some unanticipated consequences of our study. We illustrate ways in which the principles of research ethics for use of human subjects can be ambiguous and possibly inadequate for anticipating potential harm in educational research. In this exploratory research of personal communication technologies, participants experienced changes that were personal and relational. These unanticipated changes in their way of being complicated our research relationships, testing the boundaries of our committment to the principle of trustworthiness and forcing us to reevaluate our responsibilities.     

Rehabilitating care

The feminist ethic of care has often been criticized for its inability to address four problems--the problem of exploitation as it threatens care givers, the problem of sustaining care-giver integrity, the dangers of conceiving the mother-child dyad normatively as a paradigm for human relationships, and the problem of security social justice on a broad scale among relative strangers. We argue that there are resources within the ethic of care for addressing each of these problems, and we sketch strategies for developing the ethic more fully.     

Feminism, law, and bioethics

Feminist legal theory provides a healthy skepticism toward legal doctrine and insists that we reexamine even formally gender-neutral rules to uncover problematic assumptions behind them. The article first outlines feminist legal theory from the perspectives of liberal, cultural, and radical feminism. Examples of how each theory influences legal practice, case law, and legislation are highlighted. Each perspective is then applied to a contemporary bioethical issue, egg donation. Following a brief discussion of the common themes shared by feminist jurisprudence, the article incorporates a narrative reflecting on the integration of the common feminist themes in the context of the passage of the Maryland Health Care Decisions Act. The article concludes that gender does matter and that an understanding of feminist legal theory and practice will enrich the analysis of contemporary bioethical issues.     

The effects of task demands on the equivalence of visual and auditory representations of periodic numerical data

The equivalence of visual and auditory graphical displays was examined in two experiments. In Experiment 1, multidimensional scaling techniques were applied to paired comparison similarity judgments of both auditory and visual displays of simple periodic wave forms. In Experiment 2, a subset of perceptually similar pairs of wave forms was selected as the stimulus set for an AB-X discrimination task in both auditory and visual modalities. Results suggest much greater apparent visual-auditory equivalence for the similarity rating task than for the more difficult discrimination task, implying that one should consider the demands of the task when deciding whether auditory graphic displays are suitable alternatives to more traditional visual displays.     

An automated bisection device for assessing attentional neglect in clinical populations

An automated bisection device (ABD) is described that is designed for use in assessing the direction of three-dimensional neglect in various clinical populations. This device features an apparatus containing two base sections and a connecting rod, on which is located a bisection indicator assemblage that can be moved either by hand or by a calibrated motor-drive system. The indicator assemblage is, in turn, connected to a motor-control box with variable speed settings and a digital readout. The ABD can be used to measure bisection estimations along all three linear axes (lateral, vertical, and depth) by providing visual cues alone, tactile cues alone, or a combination of visual and tactile cues.     

The World-Wide Web as a medium for psychoacoustical demonstrations and experiments: Experience and results

The World-Wide Web provides an inviting opportunity to reach large numbers of people, both as an audience for psychoacoustical discussions and demonstrations and as subjects for psychoacoustical experiments. Such use of the Web poses a unique set of challenges. We present the methodologies used to prepare a multimedia primer in auditory perception at McGill University. As well as instructional material, this primer includes acoustical experiments conducted over the Web. We discuss the response and experiences with this site in general and in a particular class situation at Hanover College.