Ethical Review of Student Research on Hotline Assistance in DV and Suicide

The scenario in which the students are required to call a domestic violence and suicide hotline to study the assistance offered seems like a fairly harmless study. Although it doesn't seem like anyone got hurt, there are still some ethically questionable areas surrounding it. These areas mostly revolve around the unknowing participants in the study, namely the hotline representatives. There are some measure that could have been taken that would have made the research method more ethical. Though it may not seem harmful, the research done by the students did cross some ethical boundaries.

The first is the lack of informed consent of those being researched. By calling the hotline and pretending to be seeking their services the representatives on the phone are not aware that any research is being done. In order to be considered ethical, researchers should seek consent before involving the participants in a study. Voluntary consent is based on the idea that the participants in research should not be included unless they have freely agreed to that participation.

Get quality help now

Marrie pro writer

Verified writer

Proficient in: Domestic Violence

5 (204)

“ She followed all my directions. It was really easy to contact her and respond very fast as well. ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

(Kraska & Neuman, 88) Specifically researchers should seek out informed consent which includes a written statement explaining the study and asking for their consent before beginning their study. (Kraska & Neuman, 89)

Without informing that the participants about the study they could not have received consent from the participants. They were not asked for consent nor told after that the study was being done. A second unethical line that this study has crossed is that in the process of this study, there was a potential for a new inequality to be created.

A new inequality refers to a type of research that, when done, a group of people are denied a service or benefit. (Kraska & Neuman, 92) Because a group of students were all calling both services there is a risk that people who actually needed the service were not able to get in touch with a representative. It is possible that the false calls could have denied a service to someone who actually needed it. My initial reaction to this research was not that it was a terribly unethical study. I can understand why it may be necessary to see how the representatives handle their situations. By calling in without them knowing the students were able to see how the calls are done without worrying that the call rep is not acting a certain way knowing that they are being watched. However, I also think that there could have been a good deal of harm done if someone had called in and couldn't get through.

I think that there is a more thorough way of doing their research that didn't run this risk. I feel that this study could have been done better by seeking the consent of those involved in the study. They could have told the centers that the students would have been calling and asked for their permission. They could have still been able to do the research at random intervals by not telling them when the calls were taking place. The reps would still be acting naturally but they would be able to provide their consent. This still runs the risk of taking away a service from those who need it. To avoid this, I feel one of the best ways to have done this study would have been to simply shadow the representatives on their calls. This would have included asking for consent but also not taking up phone lines with false calls. They would have been able to sit in on multiple calls and seen more examples of how they are done. Overall, I do not think that this was a bad study. I think that there was a potential to learn a lot from the process including gathering information in a natural environment. However, I don't think that doing the research in a way that avoided these ethical conundrums would have taken away from the quality of the research.