What is Private Information?” (Vignette)
Professor Studyphud obtained a prestigious grant for longitudinal research on the outcomes of graduate training in the physical sciences. She will assess student values and ethics upon admission to graduate school, the kinds of scientific and personal values imparted in doctoral training, and ethical decisions made in career choices and performance as measured five years post-Ph.D. An important part of Studyphud’s longitudinal research design is to recruit volunteers when they are admitted to the university’s Ph.D. program in any of several major physical science departments. Studyphud plans to obtain from each program the list of graduate students admitted that year. After the student has enrolled, she plans to send the student, via campus mail, an introduction of herself (a professor of psychology), a description of her longitudinal study, an invitation to participate, and a standard consent form. Studyphud showed her research protocol to a colleague who is on the IRB to inquire whet
