Dr. macleod is the chair of an institutional review board at a local university. he recently received a research proposal from dr. portree. dr. portree wants to conduct a study in which she tells graduating seniors that they have failed all of their classes and will not be graduating college to see how college students cope with stress. she wants to randomly choose enrolled students at the university to send her "failing notices" and she points out that she cannot have them sign a consent form because if they knew that they are in a research study they might not believe that they are failing and it will ruin the results of the study. should dr. macleod allow dr. portree to conduct her study with the university students?
a. yes, the forward progress of science, especially in the area of stress and health is very important. he should let her conduct her research.
b. no, he should not let her conduct her research because it violates the ethical rule that participants must freely choose to participate in a study and must be free to withdraw at any time.
c. no, it should not be allowed because it violates the rule that participants' privacy must be protected.
d. yes, he should let her conduct her research. although being told about not passing their classes and flunking out of college would be severely stressing, it would not likely rise to the level of violating the rule that participants must be protected from undue physical or mental harm.