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9 9 Research in Schools

Lainie Friedman Ross

in Children in Medical Research: Access versus Protection

This chapter examines the arguments for and against conducting biomedical and behavioral research in schools; whether additional human subject protections are necessary; and whose consent is ... More

This chapter examines the arguments for and against conducting biomedical and behavioral research in schools; whether additional human subject protections are necessary; and whose consent is necessary and how it should be procured. It is argued that while schools are a tempting venue to do biomedical and behavioral research, parents, students, teachers, school officials, researchers, and institutional review boards need to be sensitive to the unique problems that such research may raise. Schools should have written policies that address the need to protect human subjects when research is done in the school setting. Minimum guidelines for schools are presented.Less

What’s Wrong with Their Mice?

Nikolas Rose and Joelle M. Abi-Rached

in Neuro: The New Brain Sciences and the Management of the Mind

This chapter discusses the use of animals to explore issues relating to human cognition, emotion, volition, and their pathologies. Researchers who use animal models in their work point to ... More

This chapter discusses the use of animals to explore issues relating to human cognition, emotion, volition, and their pathologies. Researchers who use animal models in their work point to similarities in the genomes of the two species, in the structure of mouse and human brain, in patterns of brain activation, in neural mechanisms at the cellular and molecular level, in responses to drugs and so forth, perhaps with reference to evolution and the principle of conservation across species when it comes to the most basic aspects of living organisms, including their brains. The chapter then examines four interconnected themes: the question of the artificiality of the laboratory situation within which animal experiments are conducted; the idea of a model in behavioral and psychiatric research; the specificity of the human and the elision of history and human sociality; and the problem of translation.Less

Behavioral Genetics Research and Criminal DNA Databases: Laws and Policies *

D.H. Kaye

in The Impact of Behavioral Sciences on Criminal Law

This chapter surveys state and federal database legislation. It shows that previous studies have overlooked or understated the restrictions on medical or behavioral genetics research with convicted ... More

This chapter surveys state and federal database legislation. It shows that previous studies have overlooked or understated the restrictions on medical or behavioral genetics research with convicted offender samples. It identifies and assesses some of the bioethical and social arguments against allowing such research. These include concerns about the possible misuse of or misunderstandings about the fruits of the research and the lack of consent on the part of the “donors” of DNA samples. This issue also raises the related policy issue of whether the DNA samples should be retained at all—as well as the research value of DNA databases and repositories. It argues that an absolute prohibition on behavioral genetics research is not necessary. Instead, it proposes that if the samples are to be retained (as they currently are), then an independent body with appropriate expertise should evaluate proposals for research projects on a case-by-case basis.Less

Characteristics of the Volunteer Subject

Robert Rosenthal and Ralph L. Rosnow

in Artifacts in Behavioral Research: Robert Rosenthal and Ralph L. Rosnow's Classic Books

This chapter gives some empirically-based conclusions about the characteristics of the subject who volunteers for participation in behavioral research, including gender, birth order, sociability, ... More

This chapter gives some empirically-based conclusions about the characteristics of the subject who volunteers for participation in behavioral research, including gender, birth order, sociability, extraversion versus introversion, approval need, and so on.Less

The Scarlet Gene: Behavioral Genetics, Criminal Law, and Racial and Ethnic Stigma

Karen Rothenberg and Alice Wang

in The Impact of Behavioral Sciences on Criminal Law

This chapter contains six parts. Part I summarizes the Genes on Trial program and introduces the issues raised by it. Part II explains why behavioral genetics research tends to focus on discrete and ... More

This chapter contains six parts. Part I summarizes the Genes on Trial program and introduces the issues raised by it. Part II explains why behavioral genetics research tends to focus on discrete and insular populations that overlap with socially constructed racial or ethnic groups. Part III locates behavioral genetics research on a spectrum spanning from single-gene disorders to complex behavioral traits, positing that the behavioral end of the spectrum carries the most potential for stigma. Part IV explores how the blame-shifting mechanisms of genetic reductionism and genetic determinism affect the individual, family, community, and society when genetics research focuses on criminal or antisocial behavior. Part V analyzes how racial and ethnic stigma arise from behavioral genetics research and perpetuate inequality. Part VI concludes by considering the ethical dilemmas that geneticists face when choosing who and what to study.Less

Lessons from Behavioral Finance for Retirement Plan Design

Olivia S. Mitchell and Stephen P. Utkus

in Pension Design and Structure: New Lessons from Behavioral Finance

This chapter evaluates new research on the behavioural aspects of retirement planning and how these can be used to design and manage retirement systems. It analyses how workers decide to save, how ... More

This chapter evaluates new research on the behavioural aspects of retirement planning and how these can be used to design and manage retirement systems. It analyses how workers decide to save, how they manage retirement investments, and how they decide to draw down their assets in retirements. Plan design and policy responses are discussed.Less

Summary

Robert Rosenthal and Ralph L. Rosnow

in Artifacts in Behavioral Research: Robert Rosenthal and Ralph L. Rosnow's Classic Books

This chapter sums up the preceding discussions and conclusions.

Social Work Research: History, Organizational Roles, and the Influence of the National Institutes of Health

Ruth G. McRoy, Jerry P. Flanzer, and Joan Levy Zlotnik

in Building Research Culture and Infrastructure

Chapter Two provides an historical overview of national social work research capacity – building efforts, especially in the context of the roles of national social work organizations and the National ... More

Chapter Two provides an historical overview of national social work research capacity – building efforts, especially in the context of the roles of national social work organizations and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It provides a brief history of the development of social work research, the widening funding base for social work research and the impact of university research culture on the social work field, particularly as universities have turned their attention to community development and needs. The authors describe the significant impact of the Task Force on Social Work Research, the significant roles of social work professional organizations, and the development of doctoral education programs towards meeting the need for an increasing social work knowledge base to address the demand for evidence based practice.Less

The Social Life of Behavioral Science

Helen E. Longino

in Studying Human Behavior: How Scientists Investigate Aggression and Sexuality

This chapter considers the uptake of selected articles representative of the different behavioral research approaches by studying citation patterns, the reporting of behavioral research in mass-media ... More

This chapter considers the uptake of selected articles representative of the different behavioral research approaches by studying citation patterns, the reporting of behavioral research in mass-media and “middle-brow” publications, and the reviews of general-interest books by researchers. The goal was to obtain a more complete picture of the transmission of ideas, both within the research context and between the research context and nonspecialist readers. It shows that apart from isolated confrontations staged by journal editors or conference organizers, there is little interaction among proponents of different research approaches. Second, the research itself is unevenly reported in the popular media. In both quantity and interpretation, genetic research is represented as the major and most productive line of investigation. Third, the framing of behavioral research in terms of the nature-nurture debate suggests that the main question about behavior concerns individual behavior and individual differences in behavior.Less

What Is This Thing Called Research?

Zachary M. Schrag

in Human Subjects Research Regulation: Perspectives on the Future

This chapter explores various ways of distinguishing research that should and should not be covered by human subjects regulations. Aligning regulations to the underlying statute, which only covers ... More

This chapter explores various ways of distinguishing research that should and should not be covered by human subjects regulations. Aligning regulations to the underlying statute, which only covers “biomedical and behavioral research,” would return scrutiny to the areas of concern identified by Congress. Alternatively, defining “human subjects” more narrowly as those people in the power of an investigator might focus energy on the prevention of the abuse of power. By contrast, relying on distinctions between generalizable knowledge and nongeneralizable knowledge is the very worst strategy, for in three decades policy makers have proved unable to agree on what this distinction means.Less

Quantitative Behavioral Genetics

Helen E. Longino

in Studying Human Behavior: How Scientists Investigate Aggression and Sexuality

This chapter discusses the quantitative behavioral genetics approach to understanding human behavior, covering methods, scope, and assumptions. Quantitative behavioral genetics is a study of ... More

This chapter discusses the quantitative behavioral genetics approach to understanding human behavior, covering methods, scope, and assumptions. Quantitative behavioral genetics is a study of phenotypic variation in populations, which aims to distinguish the (biologically) heritable portion from the nonheritable (or nonbiologically heritable) portion of that variation. This research approach has been controversial. While it can apportion the variance in expression of a trait in a population between biological and environmental variation, a number of criticisms reveal vulnerabilities in the program. These concern the overextension of heritability conclusions and assumptions about the accessibility of relevant variation in the environment to the observation methods of the behavioral genetic approach.Less

Scope and Limits of the Approaches

Helen E. Longino

in Studying Human Behavior: How Scientists Investigate Aggression and Sexuality

This chapter reviews the five approaches discussed in Chapters 2–6. These are quantitative behavioral genetics; social-environmental approaches; molecular behavioral genetics; neurobiological ... More

This chapter reviews the five approaches discussed in Chapters 2–6. These are quantitative behavioral genetics; social-environmental approaches; molecular behavioral genetics; neurobiological approaches; and integrative approaches (developmental systems theory/dynamic systems, gene x environment x neurosystem interaction, and multifactorial path analysis).Less

Defining Behavior

Helen E. Longino

in Studying Human Behavior: How Scientists Investigate Aggression and Sexuality

This chapter analyzes the ways in which the particular behaviors of interest to the studies examined are operationalized and conceptualized, and sets that examination in the context of philosophical ... More

This chapter analyzes the ways in which the particular behaviors of interest to the studies examined are operationalized and conceptualized, and sets that examination in the context of philosophical thought about the general concept of behavior. It argues that human behavior is so familiar to us that it is difficult to achieve sufficient distance to devise stable and meaningful constructs for investigative purposes. The two families of behavior whose scientific investigation form the subject of this book turn out to be especially elusive. Aggression, even when narrowed to non-state-sponsored interpersonal infliction of harm splinters into different measurable indices. The focus on sexual orientation, on the other hand, may conceal other dimensions of sexual variation that interact with the object of erotic attention/arousal.Less

Introduction

Helen E. Longino

in Studying Human Behavior: How Scientists Investigate Aggression and Sexuality

This introductory chapter sets out the book's purpose, which is to examine a set of research approaches that are in one way or another engaged with the debate over human behavior to understand their ... More

This introductory chapter sets out the book's purpose, which is to examine a set of research approaches that are in one way or another engaged with the debate over human behavior to understand their epistemological structure (investigative methods, assumptions, basic concepts), the kinds of knowledge they provide, and the pragmatic aims they can be seen to advance. The book outlines the evidential and argumentative structure of empirical research on human behavior that either employs one or another biological approach or is claimed to present an alternative to such approaches. It argues for and elaborates three principal theses, one epistemological, regarding the character of knowledge generated in this research; one ontological, regarding the object of knowledge; and one social, regarding the differential uptake and diffusion of knowledge. The organization and structure of the book is also described.Less

What We Could Know

Helen E. Longino

in Studying Human Behavior: How Scientists Investigate Aggression and Sexuality

This chapter offers some conclusions based on the preceding chapters about the reach of scientific understanding of behavior. It extends the analysis of assumptions to underscore what the approaches ... More

This chapter offers some conclusions based on the preceding chapters about the reach of scientific understanding of behavior. It extends the analysis of assumptions to underscore what the approaches have in common and what differentiates them from one another. It argues that, as presently constituted, the approaches can neither be integrated nor reduced to one by elimination or reductive assimilation. Each characterizes its domain in a unique way that precludes the reciprocal evaluation suggested by their polemics.Less