Openness and honesty versus coercion and deception in psychological research

Classified approximately 1,000 studies published in American Psychological Association (APA) journals with regard to characteristics of the Ss and of the context of research. Ss were volunteers in only a minority of studies. Approximately 20% of the studies involved a condition where false or misleading information was given to Ss. The incidence of debriefing was considerably less than 50%. It is doubtful that researchers can follow APS's call for "openness and honesty" between investigators and research participants unless these characteristics of psychological research are altered. (18 ref)