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Liberal_in_LA

(44,397 posts)
Wed Oct 29, 2014, 03:15 PM Oct 2014

Dartmouth and Stanford Apologize After a Political-Science Experiment Gone Wrong

A joint letter from the presidents of Stanford University and Dartmouth College will be sent to nearly 100,000 Montana voters to apologize for an experiment by three political-science professors at the two institutions. The letter comes after voters and state officials objected to a mailer, sent by the professors, that featured the state’s official seal and offered information about the political leanings of candidates for the state’s Supreme Court as part of an attempt to see whether such information would alter how Montanans voted.

The experiment has been condemned by other researchers in the field as unwise and perhaps unethical. Theda Skocpol, a professor of government and sociology at Harvard University, told Talking Points Memo that the research struck her as a "lapse in judgment."

The apology letter, which will cost the universities around $50,000 to send out, asks voters to ignore the mailer and states that "no research study should risk disrupting an election."

Which should go without saying, but in this case apparently had to be said.

The episode is an embarrassment to the two universities, both of which say they are investigating exactly what happened. A Stanford spokeswoman said the experiment had never been approved by an institutional review board there, though reportedly an earlier version of the flier was submitted to an IRB at Dartmouth. A spokesman for Dartmouth, Justin Anderson, said officials there were still determining whether the research had undergone a proper review.

http://chronicle.com/article/DartmouthStanford/149687/

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Dartmouth and Stanford Apologize After a Political-Science Experiment Gone Wrong (Original Post) Liberal_in_LA Oct 2014 OP
Scratching my head a bit. I can see where Erich Bloodaxe BSN Oct 2014 #1
The unethical part is not passing the experiment by the institutional review boards. yellowcanine Oct 2014 #3
Intent? antiquie Oct 2014 #4
"The experiment has been condemned by other researchers... as unwise and perhaps unethical." yellowcanine Oct 2014 #2

Erich Bloodaxe BSN

(14,733 posts)
1. Scratching my head a bit. I can see where
Wed Oct 29, 2014, 03:20 PM
Oct 2014

the 'experiment' should not have had the state's seal, but why should anyone object to accurate info about potential candidates being sent to voters? Or was the info sent out inaccurate?

Voters are bombarded by propaganda mailings all the time, so I don't think sending them real info should be considered 'unethical'.

yellowcanine

(35,692 posts)
3. The unethical part is not passing the experiment by the institutional review boards.
Wed Oct 29, 2014, 03:31 PM
Oct 2014

The guidelines are quite clear. Experiments involving human subjects or animals have to be approved by IRBs. The professors who led this study are in a lot of trouble.

 

antiquie

(4,299 posts)
4. Intent?
Wed Oct 29, 2014, 03:51 PM
Oct 2014

From the link:

...as part of an attempt to see whether such information would alter how Montanans voted.

(Those charges include allegations by state officials that the researchers may have broken four laws, including using a "fraudulent contrivance" to influence voters.)

yellowcanine

(35,692 posts)
2. "The experiment has been condemned by other researchers... as unwise and perhaps unethical."
Wed Oct 29, 2014, 03:26 PM
Oct 2014

Ya think? It is more than unethical. If federal or state grant funds were used, probably illegal also. Most grants require that these kinds of experiments have Institutional Review Board approval. And this is one way even a tenured professor can lose their job.

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