"Booooooyaahhhh...I'm not really pregnant!"
 

Teen fakes pregnancy as a school project. Six-month-long fake out was part of a social experiment for the 17-year-old's senior project.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42711421..._and_parenting

I consider this to be a brilliant study with participant observation methodology. I hope she gets college offers, scholarships, and writes some research articles to get some publications. :)

That's awesome.

I admire her determination and commitment. I support a child of mine wanting to do this.

I'm not quite feeling this. What's been advanced here?

Ok, you tell or let your friends/classmates observe your "pregnancy." Some are likely to stand with you, others likely to talk about you or shun you. ...predictable responses in both directions, so what's been learned from her exercise?

Besides, I'd think her real friends, those that stood with her, might feel a bit disillusioned at her experiment for a minute. Hopefully, they'd all get past it, though.

We don't have the benefit of her final report.

I don't know. It seemed that the article addressed your very issue.

Of course I could be reading it wrong.

I saw her on the Today show this morning and I found her observations about how people treated her to be pretty interesting.

First of all, if there are two completely disparate reactions that are both possible, it's not at all "predictable" ... second, this kind of hand-waving ("Who cares of people treat a pregnant 17 year old like shit? Shouldn't she expect it?") is kind of the point of the project.

It's a lot for her to take on, and something most of us will only experience vicariously through her report. I'm sure you can see some value in that?

It feels unethical.

I am most surprised that the not-really-father-to-be's parents weren't included in the knowledge, as well as the girl's own siblings. I understand she may have wanted to include reactions from family members, but I'm sure throughout the 6 months, the boyfriend's parents had time to accept the idea and possibly bond with this girl over her "pregnancy." I'm sure they are partly relieved, but I'm sure there's a sense of some loss there as well that they no longer have a grandchild on the way. That part I could never justify to myself.

What I found scariest about this project was that her high school graduation depended on it- if her project was a failure to launch or someone broke the secret that she wasn't really pregnant, she would not have been able to graduate. Which a- seems like a way-too-serious project for a high school student and b- must have been really scary. Not that her boyfriend or mother would intentionally sabotage her, but accidents happen.

That was my thought, too. Particularly with family, it's more than just noting reactions; it's playing real emotional numbers on them.

If they'd been real jerks to her though, would it have been different? Depending on the time frame and local laws and such, she still, theoretically, could have gotten an abortion after six months even if just barely. Would it have been unjustifiable to do so purely because of the grandparents? I don't think so. (Views on abortion aside, that wouldn't be the reason for making the call.)

However, I think you're right in that this never would have gotten past an IRB for that reason. Had she not identified a 'father' and informed her parents, then it's possible that an IRB would have approved it.

In any sort of study, if things go wrong, you still typically report what happened and why things went wrong. Even though this was a high school project, I suspect, and would like to believe that no matter what was said, if the truth had gotten out, the student would have been able to write about her experience for the duration.

It probably wasn't as do-or-die as you're making it. She probably had a plan b on how to handle her project if this project doesn't go as planned. She could still write about how the early stages of her fake pregnancy turned out and how people reacted when she was outed.

Yeah and that's a risk of observational methods and participant observational methods, in general. I would have preferred if the study sample only consisted of the people at her high school. That would be impossible.

She definitely should have told the boyfriend's parents.

I don't know how concrete these observations could be - she didn't do this in a vacuum. That is, everyone already knew her and had opinions of her previously. People aren't going to react exactly the same way to every person that gets pregnant.

Maybe a better way to do this experiment would have been with another girl in on it - with as identical as possible social and class standing - as a "control" and contrast what happened to both of them when one of them got "pregnant."

I guess I just don't find this to be particularly brilliant, groundbreaking, or worthwhile. I don't believe a high school student has the agency or proper tools to perform covert studies, much less actually manipulate her subjects -- none of whom have consented. Hence my question of ethics.

Agreed, and I don't think this study has any shot of getting published due to ethical issues nor should it be rewarded by scholarships and the like. I mean, it's interesting, but it sets a horrible precedent/example to let people shun research ethics because something is "interesting." Granted, sometime IRBs can be a bit into minutia with some things, but this level of deception and non-consent of participants is not minor, IMO.

As I said, it would never get past the IRB. but she does seem to have the agency to do it. And did so successfully.

I don't think it's shocking to anyone familiar with the issue, but I wonder sincerely if her classmates and their families rethink their attitude about teen pregnancy.
This kind of study can never have a control group. It's qualitatively reviewing her experience. Instead it would need to be repeated elsewhere with other students.

I didn't say a control GROUP, I said one individual as nearly "like" her as possible.

Obviously people are going to react differently to the pregnancy of Suzie who is in the home-ec program, not very popular, has been dating the same guy for 5 years and is wearing a promise ring, and Bonnie who is the head of every club and sport and never dates the same guy twice. She can't say "this is how people react to a pregnant student" and leave it at that.

A control person* wouldn't be relevant to that study, that's what I'm saying. If a professional were doing a similar sort of thing, it would probably involve surveying large groups of pregnant students on how their peers have reacted to their pregnancies. If a non-professional (because I don't think a professional would) were to do something closer to what the student did it would be multiple faux-pregnancies, not one pregancy/one non-pregnancy or even 10 pregancies/10 non-pregnancies.

*group here can include "one" individual, but whatever.

The more I think about this, the more shocked I am that this got approved by the administration--especially considering how incredibly wary most schools are about allowing researchers--professional, ethical, IRB-approved researchers--on their campuses.

This type of participant observation methodology is not designed to address larger patterns of behavior and generalizations. Her findings would indicate that people reacted to her, specifically, in that manner and she could posit that it is perhaps the case that there is a larger phenomenon at play for future research to examine. Her study does not test that larger phenomenon.

I disagree emphatically.

And covert observation and participant observation subjects do not give consent prior to the study. That would defeat the purpose.

***

For those who are not familiar with methodology and issues with IRB approval, here's a Cliffnotes version:

http://www.webster.edu/irb/confid.html

Observational Studies. Of all the methods used to locate suitable subjects and obtain data, covert observation and participant observation are especially likely to raise concerns about privacy. Covert observation includes the use of concealed devices to record information for later analysis (e.g., tape recording conversations or videotaping personal interactions) and concealment of the researcher (e.g., behind a one-way mirror) as the behavior of subjects is observed and recorded. In participant observation, the researcher assumes a role in the setting or group being studied. When the purpose of these methods is to gain access to information not ordinarily available to "outsiders," questions of privacy arise. (Similar issues about obtaining information not intended to be disclosed can be raised about many other forms of research that involve deception.)

Several factors may be relevant to an IRB's evaluation of such privacy questions. One is the extent to which the behavior in question is public. Covert observation of public behavior (e.g., observing pedestrians on the street) raises little if any concern about privacy; concealed observation of people in their homes would be quite another matter. Some behavior that occurs in public places may not really be public behavior if the individuals involved have a reasonable expectation of privacy. Research involving covert recording of conversations in public parks or filming of activities in public rest rooms clearly raises invasion of privacy questions. Observational studies in quasi-public places (e.g., hospital emergency rooms or state mental hospital wards) may also raise such concerns.

A question sometimes raised about the use of covert observation in research is whether an ethical issue exists if the subjects never become aware of the invasion of privacy. That is, if subjects are never aware that their behavior has been observed or recorded for research purposes, they can hardly feel embarrassed, guilty, or that their rights have been violated. On the other hand, it can be argued that an invasion of privacy is wrong, whether or not the subjects are ever aware of it. In some cases, subjects may inadvertently learn of their involvement in the research, perhaps when the study is published, and feel that they have been harmed.

LOL. Yes, that is also a point of conducting such research. Do people who already know you change their behaviors of you? If so, how so? How were you treated; and how can that possibly be compared to how others have been treated?

First, a massive amount of social psych research is explicitly based on lying to the participants/subject - consent is an issue to an extent (ie. they're being observed), but that consideration is relatively minor to my mind. Otherwise, her duplicity is actually fairly standard research protocol.

Second, I'm not sure what you mean by "agency" - she doesn't have to exert any sort of influence (social or otherwise) over her peers to gain valid insight. In fact, the more 'usual' she is, the better off the research outcomes might be.

Finally, she may or may not have the proper tools to actually give insight, but we won't know until the final product is produced, right?

I don't think it'll be groundbreaking in the sense that it won't earn peer review or publication or anything, but it's interesting she chose the project itself, and (to my mind) it hasn't really been studied in an academic sense. I'm interested in the results.

Considering that high school students get scholarships and college acceptance for planting a community garden, being in the school musical, being on whatever sports team, yes I think she should receive a scholarship (if there is one out there) for sociological studies.

It is not safe to assume that a well written article (once she is in college and has research mentors) will not receive peer review and publication if the methodology and findings are not crappy.

Although I agree with most of your post, I disagree that this level of deception is standard. Some deception yes, but no one here consented and there could indeed have been some harm caused. An IRB would likely not have approved the project as is, not with minors involved.

There's definitely a reason I said "lying" and not "lying to this extent", haha - but yeah, it's difficult to draw the line, and I'm glad it isn't my responsibility to do so.

True, and much like certain hazing rules, the rules are strict due to past screw ups. However revealing it was, no one really wants another Milgrim. It's a shame sometimes, you can think of some really interesting things to do, but they're entirely impossible because they're completely unethical.

The scientific mind wishes there was a way and the ethical mind slaps it and tells it to stop.

Well, every journal I've ever submitted to (psych grad student here with 6 journal publications (4 peer-reviewed) and a few others submitted, so I have some background in this, although not extensive) has required a statement that the research was IRB approved and in accordance with ethical standards, which this wasn't, so, no, I don't think any reputable, peer-reviewed journal would take it these days.

Thanks for sharing your C.V. I'll spare you mine. ;)

We don't know all of the details of her study and what, if anything, she has planned for future studies. So, like I said, it is not safe to assume that this study is a waste and she cannot eventually have a peer reviewed publication even loosely based on this study.

And she may not have any interest in any of that. She may have only wanted to complete her senior project and get some attention for the topic. Maybe publishing in a magazine or newspaper is more her desire. That is also fine since this is a very public topic that shouldn't be relegated to those of us who regularly read scholarly, peer-reviewed journals.

Nor is it safe to label it brilliant.

I find it extremely brilliant for what it is. You don't have to feel the same.

And don't edit my post to remove its context. I'm talking about what this young lady can possibly do with similar studies in the future.

:) These comments made me think of GC:

http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?p=1450177

Oh, that is in no way my CV, trust me! ;) And do you have any experience with social science research, IRBs, etc., because it's kind of odd that you wouldn't see the potential ethical confounds in this--and the methodological issues, for that matter--if you do.

If she wants to publish in a magazine or popular press, fine with me--although I have issues with rewarding research with notable, uncontrolled and unaccounted for potential for psychological harm in modern times. Granted, some of most influential studies in psychology would be unethical be today's standards, but ethical standards in research also came about for damn good reasons.

If she wants to do a future study, done ethically, on the same topic, sure, she can try to publish it anywhere she wants to.

On the study itself... I think it is interesting, yes, and probably will be grounds for some interesting self-reflection in that high school. However, you have to keep in mind the methodological flaw (and it's a big one, IMO) of having one person do everything in the study--be in the participant, the observer, the principal investigator, the analyst, etc.--HUGE potential for bias issues that would need to be addressed if anyone wanted to make this publishable, regardless of ethics. She probably came in with expectations and probably, deliberately or not, focused on responses which confirmed those and cherry-picked them. This isn't a criticism of her--it's human nature. But it's also why this type of research just wouldn't fly professionally, except maybe as a letter to the editor or a bare "base:" for future studies. It's very interesting and probably contributed something to her personal gtrowth and again, self-reflection, but it's hardly ground-breaking, IMO.

Of course it isn't, hence the sarcasm.

Yes. Don't imply that social science researchers have a uniform perspective on this matter.

The bolded is the correct wording. With all due respect, as a graduate student you will learn more and more about why there are debates over ethical and methodological issues. You should have already learned that. If ethical and methodological issues were so cut and dry, there would be no room for debate. Participant observation is a complex methodology that some researchers and scholars strongly oppose regardless of how well ethics and methodology are considered and operated. That is the perceivably thin line between personal (educated) opinion and the process of conducting research.

LOL @ the rest of your post. This is some serious stuff, eh? Like I said, if she gets to college and if she has research mentors and if she wants to further this research...the world shall see whether this is respectable research that is worthy of any kind of publication. In the meantime, she's a high school student whose research has received varying opinions of the methodology and findings. Cool.

Oh, honey, I do research on abuse in "vulnerable populations"--it's not like my research is the most IRB-friendly! But telling someone that you're pregnant with their grandchild for 6 months when you know you're not? Reading off selected, derisive comments in front of the whole school, with names included? A high school psychology student could tell you that those are seriously questionable things--it's not like we're talking about wording on a consent form here.

"Oh, honey" really? Really? Lay off that act.

We get all that, really we do, thing is, she is a high school student. Likely the adults supervising her were not psychologists, or people particularly trained in IRB procedures and informed consent and so on. Blah blah, stuff is problematic, but it's over and done with and something interesting might come of it. Like legit research either by her or other researchers. The fact that this could not have been done by a professional actually makes it more intriguing.

And quite frankly it was an incredibly gutsy thing to do. I give her major props.

Oh, student, it's great that you now remember that researchers and scholars don't all agree on issues of ethics and methodology, even after being well aware of "the potential." Cool.