Ethics and Law for School Psychologists, 8th Edition

Chapter 10 RESEARCH IN THE SCHOOLS: ETHICAL AND LEGAL ISSUES

McKinzie DuesenbergContributing Author

In this chapter, we explore the ethical and legal aspects of research in school systems. There are several sources of guidance in the conduct of research with human participants or using their identifiable private information. The codes of ethics of both the American Psychological Association (APA, 2017b) and the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP, 2020) include standards for research. In recognition of some of the special problems posed by research with children, the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) also developed ethical principles and standards, specifically for research with children (SRCD, 2021).¹

The National Research Act of 1974 (Pub. L. No. 93–348) outlined federal policies for research with human participants. It is interesting to note that the basic elements of our federal policies for research with human participants can be traced back to the Nuremberg Code, a judicial summary made at the war trials of Nazi physicians who conducted medical experiments on war prisoners and were indicted for crimes against humanity (Keith-Spiegel, 1983). The National Research Act mandated the formation of the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research (National Commission). One of the charges to the commission was to identify the fundamental ethical principles that should underlie the conduct of research ...