Assessing Social Science Research Ethics and Integrity - Case Studies and Essays

This book discusses the development of key issues in research ethics relevant for clinical sociologists, concerning client rights to confidentiality, privacy, and informed consent. It describes the US human research protection system used by clinical and applied sociologists, through a history of research ethics, including the landmark Belmont Report and the creation of the regulatory structure of Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) in the United States. It also discusses ethical research systems in other nations like Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand. The book provides a comprehensive account of controversial studies in the US, including Milgram's Obedience to Authority, Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment, and the US Public Health Service, and the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, and analyzes how ethical concerns in these studies were or were not resolved. 
This book covers a topic of core interest to clinical and applied sociologists and other social science practitioners who do research, as well as students and teachers in research ethics courses in anthropology, psychology, political science, sociology, and philosophy, thereby broadening an awareness of clinical sociology.



Harry Perlstadt, Ph.D., M.P.H., is Professor Emeritus of Sociology, Michigan State University and served for five years as Director of the MSU Bioethics, Humanities, and Society Program. He has worked on evaluations of community health delivery for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, safe and drug-free school curricula for the Michigan Department of Community Health, and national environmental health polices and action plans in Europe for the World Health Organization/Europe. He is active in the American Public Health Association having served on its Science Board and represented the Ethics Section on its Governing Council. His publications include chapters on applied sociology in 21st Century Sociology: A Reference Handbook, Ethics and Values in Sociological Practice in Doing Sociology: Case Studies in Sociological Practice, and The Healthy Cities/Communities Movement in Community Intervention: Clinical Sociology Perspectives. He has published articles on Milgram's Obedience to Authority and Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiments. He received the American Sociological Association's 2014 Distinguished Career Award for the Practice of Sociology.