Structuring the debate about research ethics in the psychology and law field: an international perspective

Forensic Experts’ Perspectives on Australian Indigenous Sexual Offenders and Factors Important in Evaluating the Risk of Recidivism

“…Evaluators would therefore like more research that validates the central risk factors and instruments currently used with Indigenous and non-Indigenous sexual offenders. Such research will need to surmount specific problems regarding the relative smallness and heterogenous nature of the Australian Indigenous population and the relatively low base rate and heterogeneity of sexual offending (Allan, 2020). Evaluators would furthermore like to have culturally specific structural professional risk assessment instruments (also see Shepherd et al, 2014) with manuals that guide them regarding the weight they should give to factors for people coming from different groups.…”

“…Researchers nevertheless consistently find that ancestry (i.e., line of descent) and/or culture influence the predictive accuracy of these instruments (e.g., Allan et al, 2006; Babchishin et al, 2012; Gutierrez et al, 2013, 2016; Långström, 2004; Lee et al, 2020; McCuish et al, 2018; Perley-Robertson et al, 2018; Smallbone & Rallings, 2013; Spiranovic, 2012; Wormith et al, 2015). These findings have significant practical, ethical and legal implications for evaluators who work in countries with notable Indigenous populations (e.g., Allan, 2018, 2020; Allan et al, 2006; Hart, 2016; Olver, 2016; Shepherd, 2016; Shepherd et al, 2014, 2017; Shepherd & Lewis-Fernandez, 2016). From a legal perspective there are two major implications for evaluators working in countries with Indigenous populations.…”

“…Evaluators are, however, reliant on researchers to develop instruments that have predictive accuracy for Australian Indigenous people (Allan, 2020) and such instruments will have to take into account each Indigenous group’s unique culture and recent history (see Hart, 2016 for a more comprehensive discussion). Culture influences every aspect of people’s lives because it represents a unique collection of schemata and scripts learned and shared by its members that guide them in perceiving and interpreting external stimuli and responding to them (Allan, 2016).…”

Critical review of the use of the Rorschach in European courts

“…Beecher-Monas ( 1998 ) stated that the most important Daubert standard is that the test must have a sound and tested theoretical basis, as well as supporting data accessible in peer-reviewed journals. The requirement that any supporting research should have been published in reputable peer-reviewed journals serves to verify that the research has been scrutinised by objective and competent peers and that the data has been made available to those who need it, such as forensic practitioners and lawyers (Allan, 2020 ). Psychologists should control for publication bias when they evaluate the level of support in the literature for the theoretical basis of an instrument.…”

The ethics of experimental research employing intrusive technologies in tourism: A collaborative ethnography perspective

“…“Ethical regulation of research is still primarily country-centric and fragmented with several bodies directly or indirectly regulating researchers” (Allan, 2020: 399). Not all countries have a formalized national code of conduct for human research ethics, especially in the study of social sciences such as tourism and hospitality (Czymoniewicz-Klippel et al., 2010).…”