Question

Dr. Rip Van Winkle is requesting permission to do a sleep deprivation study involving young children. He has hypothesized that children between the ages of five and seven need uninterrupted sleep to do well with basic memory functions.

He has proposed a study where children in this age category will be awakened each hour during one night in his laboratory, and then tested on basic memory abilities.
These results will then be compared with those obtained after a normal night of sleep.
He is offering parents a $250 incentive if they will agree to allow their children to participate in this study.
The children will be given a gift certificate to a local toy store for their participation.
Should this study be approved? What concerns do you have?

Answer 1

The study should not be approved as it poses the threat of leaving a long term impact on the brains of the children or damaging them permanently.

Explanation:

• Though the study, if allowed to be conducted, would dispense some really helpful results that could be referred to in the future in the discipline of child psychology, it would still be unethical to approve this study.
• This is because it would be unethical to involve participants in a study who are not mature enough to express or not express their consent for participation.
• Moreover, the procedure of the study also poses the threat of long-term or permanent damage to the memory abilities of the children.