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Deceptive Field Experiments of Discrimination: Are they Ethical?
Author(s) -
Riach Peter A.,
Rich Judith
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
kyklos
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.766
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1467-6435
pISSN - 0023-5962
DOI - 10.1111/j.0023-5962.2004.00262.x
Subject(s) - deception , harm , transparency (behavior) , field (mathematics) , product (mathematics) , psychology , test (biology) , economics , social psychology , positive economics , political science , law , paleontology , geometry , mathematics , pure mathematics , biology
SUMMARY Field experiments in which bogus pairs of transactors test for discrimination by applying for employment or housing, or by trading in product markets, have been widely‐published during the last decade. However, no detailed justification has been provided for the deception involved. The general lack of veracity in the market‐place, the social harm inflicted by discrimination and the superior accuracy and transparency of this technique justify deceiving the subjects of experiments. Deception of testers , however, may do them harm, contravenes the ethical standards of psychologists and sociologists and is unnecessary, as alternative procedures are available to deal with ‘experimenter effects’.