There needs to be an option for BURRRRRRRRRN!

no biggie

Hahaha... Win!

#17 and #23, experiments like this still happen all the time, and they are perfectly acceptable. they get through IRB's because: a) There might be no other way to test the construct they're looking at. b) The manipulation is not deemed harmful for the participant--finding out that the girl you're flirting with is actually a confederate is NOTHING compared to what happened in the Milgram experiment.

No, deception is not always a part of research studies, psychology or otherwise, but it is occasionally permissible. To #25, yes the IRB approves studies that it thinks will not unduly affect the research subjects even if some level of deception is allowed. The IRB does it's best but that does not mean that simply because they approved the study you therefore have no legitimacy in feeling violated by the study. If you are really upset about this you can complain both to the RPI (responsible project investigator) ie the person at the head of the whole study, and/or to the IRB itself. You should have received some kind of documentation after you completed the survey that gave you the number of the IRB as well as the RPI. If you didn't receive that it's likely that the study is in violation of IRB protocol but that varies by university. If I felt very uncomfortable with the study and the deception involved I would probably just go to IRB and explain what happened. IRB should be very sensitive to your feelings and concerns because they don't want to be sued. They should be very supportive of you and would be less intimidating to me to go to than the RPI who might be defensive of his/her project and try to dismiss your feelings. You have every right to feel the way that you do and should not be uncomfortable stating to the university that you had some objections to the study. That's what keeps science and research accountable and makes sure that we don't have more Milgrams etc.

oops

Oh man, that's fantastic. Great experiment! I know, deception sucks for the receiving end in psych experiments, but they're sure a heck of a lot of fun to pull off!!

There is no way that would pass a university ethics board. She was just teasing you, she made up that excuse so you'd go away.

#69 You have no idea about psych experiments, clearly. That would pass as long as your proposal made it clear how the participants would be debriefed afterwards. Deception is pretty common in psych experiments. Don't take it to heart. You were just a good participant. Well done for helping to advance science :)

There's an ethics committee that needs to approve any experiment performed on human subjects. I doubt they'd have a major problem with flirtation while taking a survey. If the girl was to go on a few dates with you before spilling the beans, then they'd have a few problems with it.