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Ethical Issues In Assessment And Testing
Ethical Issues In Assessment And Testing
It is imperative for the psychologist to be initially aware of the fact that none of the existing ethical theories will singularly provide a tailor made solution for his client in the most ethically approved way. In as much as they represent different viewpoints of ethical justification, ethical theories potentially conflict with each other when applied to a particular case at the same time. This leaves the psychologist to rely more on his intuition and creativity than the ethics theory models. However it should be remembered that his recommendations and subsequent actions should be within the confines of the American Psychological Association’s Ethics Code. Though not an exact formula for unraveling ethical challenges, the APA Ethics Code offers an interpretation of broad rules of conduct whose application should be driven by a desire to do the right thing simply because it is right.
In this case study the psychologist is confronted by a conflict whose cause can be attributed to his inability to determine what is right between making a full disclosure about his patient to her husband thereby weakening her case for child custody, or putting the mental heath of his patient first by holding on to information that would reflect negatively in her case. Different ethical theories would interpret this dilemma in very different ways but of great importance to psychologists is finding a solution that reflects a moral disposition; one which does not contravene the principles of APA’s Ethics code. Doing the right thing, and making the right choice as well, are factors associated with moral principles, obligations and ideals (Beauchamp & Childress, 2001). As an ethically responsible professional, the psychologist must therefore base his decisions on ethical models that are best designed, morally and professionally, to address the dilemma about his client’s case. A single model of ethical reasoning alone is not sufficient enough for professional practice so careful attention to the details involved in the conflict and adherence to his ethical code are necessary ingredient in resolving the conflict.
Employing Kant’s formalist ethical theory would act negatively on the welfare of the client in this case. Kant’s formalist model “proposes that there is a rational solution for every ethical question and that the acceptability of any ethical maxim can be established beyond any doubt purely by rational deduction” (Ford, 2000, p. 71). This approach denies the existence of conflict when perfect and imperfect duties collide because the perfect would prevail. When applied to the our case the psychologist should not be facing any dilemma because doing what is socially accepted as the right thing would make him present a full report including his patient’s records of potential instability and alleged paranoia which would jeopardize her chances of gaining custody of her sons. The woman has already been diagnosed with clinical depression which renders her susceptible to persistent feelings of sadness, memory problems, and a loss of hope and self esteem among other symptoms. She is in an endless plunge down an abyss without anything to hold on to except, as she puts it, “my children.” According to Kant, the psychologist is already in the wrong for having withheld information about his client’s suspicion of her husband’s adultery. For Kant there are no circumstances that would call for further reasoning about the application of a rule on a particular context beyond the concept of right or wrong. This kind of analysis as much as it revolves around the applicability of moral principles in arriving at ethical solutions, it does not correspond to the way people practically apply rules in solving moral problems (Fisher, 2008).
The most appropriate model of ethical reasoning that can be applied to resolve the apparent ethical conflict in this case would be Wallace’s (1988) ethical contextualism. This approach relies on using situational conditions to find solutions in ethical dilemmas. Ethical contextualism acknowledges that conflicts happen and that there are no universal ethical principles that can be applied in every dilemma involving a conflict between competing ethical principles. The ever changing contexts of human life can not be judged solely on the basis of ethical rules like Kant’s formalist theory. “How could a set of principles anticipate the continual and extensive changes in the human condition?” (Wallace, 1988, p. 17). By borrowing extensively on ethical contextualism, the psychologist can resolve the conflict in our case using the following nine step approach. The first approach would be to identify the ethical considerations involved in the woman’s case. Top on this list is the psychologist’s regard for the mental health of his client. She is clinically depressive and on the verge of developing an anxious personality disorder. How would his decision impact on her treatment? In evaluating potential ethical considerations, the psychologist should dwell on one principle and disregard others as being of less importance. A contextual approach takes into consideration all the principles relevant to the case in order to evaluate the ethical impact of a decision on the situation as a whole. The client is the principal figure in this case but there is her husband and family who stand to be affected by the situation. Her marriage is on the verge of a break up. What consequences would the psychologist’s decisions have on this marriage and the family involved? This initial appraisal aims at establishing whether an ethical conflict exists or not and if it does then what is the most ethical decision that can apparently be made. In our case a conflict exists and the psychologist has to make a decision that puts into consideration the welfare of his patient as well as her children regardless of his previous omission of pertinent information about the woman.
The second step involves gathering as much pertinent information about the case as possible. The facts of a situation are as important as the decision itself. For example the psychologist in this case should not disregard the fact that his client’s has a husband whose insistence on her instability has played a significant role in her depression. His further insistence on being consulted about all aspects of her therapy and having a formal access to her assessment records shows that there is some information he does not want to be revealed without his knowledge. This might validate the wife’s claim about the extramarital affair the husband is having. The psychologist should make an extra effort to review every available data related to the husband’s activities in order to verify his credibility. His insistence on divorce on the grounds of the wife’s ‘breakdown’ poses an increased danger to her mental health as well as her recovery chances.
The woman is willing to present her accusations to the husband so the issue of confidentiality does not arise and the psychologist should go ahead and make amends to his earlier assessment report and include all the information he had previously omitted. All this should be done in consultation with the client, advising her along on the consequences the revelations will have on her custody case. Fact gathering should also include legal guidelines, her intellectual as well as personality assessment, and consultation with her inpatient therapist.
The third step involves a second appraisal of the conditions involved. The psychologist aims at determining whether the conflict has been exhaustively resolved or not. In the fourth step, the psychologist conducts metaethical deliberations to determine whether the ethical principles he has been applying are relevant to the conflict at hand or not. The meatethical significance of every consideration is discussed in detail to determine each deliberation’s relevance to the matter at hand. He can make a decision at this point if the deliberations are found to be relevant to the conflict and can resolve the dilemma. It is obvious that the husband intends to use his wife’s medical records to make his support his divorce and custody case. The woman’s depressive condition has been significantly augmented by lack of concern and emotional care by the husband and a loss of her children, who are the only meaningful reasons for her clinging to sanity, would devastate her mental health. Should the psychologist adopt a Kantian ethical approach and make required revelations about her state of mental health, she could definitely lose the custody of her children. The conflict still exists because the ethical principles he has adopted do not solve the dilemma, so he has to carry on to the fifth step that requires metaethical deliberations on finding an ethical solution to the conflict.
This step involves a second deliberation with emphasis on prioritization of the ethical considerations by their relevance to the case. The main question here is how each consideration works towards the improvement of the quality of human life. On a metaethical level he might have to question himself on what matters most between his client’s mental heath and the custody of the children. He might have to confront the issue of his withholding information about his client’s accusations and the real motive behind it. If he did it to protect her from a cheating husband or to strengthen her case for child custody for the sake of her sanity, he would still have to confront the question whether his client’s custody of the children in her unstable mind would be of any good to anyone involved in the case. At this point the psychologist has to formulate a solution that best serves his professional ethical duty.
The sixth step is known as the tertiary appraisal where the psychologist has to generate options from his professional ethical considerations. He resorts to the pragmatic application of ethical code to the concrete context of the case. From the options he has generated, he selects the one that is most consistent with the fundamental ethical relevance to the situation and does least or no harm at all to the case. This is a creativity activity where the psychologist seeks to primarily safeguard his client’s mental health without jeopardizing the other ethical considerations like the welfare of her children which might impact negatively on the primary objective. Wallace (1988) states that practical wisdom, which is the core of ethical contextualism, involves giving consideration to every ethical aspect that is relevant to the deliberations at hand. The looming divorce presents the biggest threat to the woman’s recovery. The psychologist at this point should start exploring the possibilities of marital therapy sessions.
In the seventh step, the psychologist takes all the available options and estimates the consequences each of them carries. For example if he goes ahead and provides the information he had omitted about his client’s accusations of her husband’s adultery, his client would not object it since she did not offer any objections about it. There is no issue of breaking client confidentiality here. She even seems welcome to having the information included in the assessment report as long as she gets the custody of her children. If he does not divulge the information in the hope of protecting her vulnerability, the client herself might even lodge a malpractice complaint if she goes ahead with the divorce on the grounds mental and emotional torture through infidelity only to find the information missing in her medical report. The best option should be the one accompanied by the least future damage to her well being. The eighth step is all about making the final decision. The psychologist will decide on a course of action she will follow based on the deliberations he has made. In this case the main ethical consideration was the future welfare of his client. Her treatment relies on how the she will take the divorce and the subsequent child custody case. She suffers from depression and not in a position to be exposed to courtroom wrangles at this point. The best decision will involve her husband dropping the divorce case which will negate the need for the fight over custody of children. The couple should be encouraged to seek for marital therapy instead.
The importance of documenting the entire decision making process should not be downplayed either. To demonstrate his awareness of the matter, the psychologist should document not only the information he used in arriving at the decision, but also the names and dates of all the people he contacted in all the whole deliberation process.
References
Beauchamp, T. L., & Childress J. F. (2001). Principles of biomedical ethics (5th ed.). Oxford:OxfordUniversity Press.
Fisher, C. B. (Ed.). (2008). Decoding the ethics code: A practical guide for psychologists.London: Sage Publishers.
Ford, G. G. (2000). Ethical reasoning in mental health professions. New York: CRC.
Wallace, J. D. (1988). Moral relevance and moral conflict. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Ethical Issues In Accounting
Ethical Issues In Accounting
Contents
TOC o “1-3” h z u HYPERLINK l “_Toc377059264” Ethics in accounting PAGEREF _Toc377059264 h 1
HYPERLINK l “_Toc377059265” Legal issues in accounting PAGEREF _Toc377059265 h 2
HYPERLINK l “_Toc377059266” Technological concern in accounting PAGEREF _Toc377059266 h 4
HYPERLINK l “_Toc377059267” References PAGEREF _Toc377059267 h 5
Ethics in accountingEthics in accounting is of great importance to both accounting professionals and those who receive services from them. Accountants are expected to be highly competent, objective and reliable. Thus an accountant must possess high level of integrity. The general ethical standards apply to people in professionals such as accounting and medicine and not just anyone. People place high expectation on professionals and so due to these expectations, professionals have developed codes of ethics referred to as codes of professional conduct. These ethical codes sets pace in which members must maintain and enhance self discipline to the highest standards possible. The codes of ethics specify what should or should not be done. One of the distinguishing features of accounting profession is their responsibility to the public. The internal auditors, financial managers and management accountants are mostly employees of organizations that provide services to the public and so they must adhere to their obligation to the public. Responsibility placed on accounting professionals requires them to uphold confidentiality, integrity, objectivity and professional competence. Accountants should take tasks that they can complete with professional competence and must carry out their work with utmost care and diligence (Herbert, 2007) .Confidential information held by accountants should not be disclosed to outsiders. Maintaining objectivity and integrity involves an accountant desisting from both apparent and actual conflict of interest. Conflict of interest may occur when an accountant has personal interest in the organization he is serving and may thus provide services that satisfies his own end. As such, an accountant should work with honesty to avoid conflict of interest. Furthermore they should take voluntary step in avoiding improper personal benefit as a result of the position he holds within the organization. For instance insider trading should be avoided at all cost as it provides unfair ground for trading among investors and is one of the ethical issues that have been experienced by large companies such as Enron. Accountants should actively promote behaviors in the work place. They should encourage and reward integrity in every aspect of the organization by eradicating obstacles to responsible conducts. They should display personal support for the principles that define the codes of ethics and so they should act in good faith, diligence, due care, responsibly and must not allow compromise in independent judgment. Accountants should employ responsibilities In order to provide fair, accurate, full, understandable and timely information (Hoffman, Judith &Edward, 1996).
Legal issues in accountingAccountants must comply with all the rules, laws and regulation of federal, state and local government .They must also adhere to rules and regulations of bodies that govern the practice of accountants within that organization. Accountants must avoid malpractices such as negligence and so professional accounting institutes must establish a set of rules that enhance standard of care among accountants. One of the major law that govern the profession of accountancy is called the Sarbanes-Oxley act of 2002 also referred to as public company accounting reform and investor protection act. This act was highly influenced by the collapse of Enron, one of the largest energy companies in USA that raised both legal and ethical questions on how public companies are run (Steven, 2007). The Sarbanes-Oxley act of 2002 has 11 guidelines that stipulate the specific requirements and mandates to be maintained during financial reporting. These are in forms of titles. The first title establishes the public company accounting Oversight board whose role is to register auditors, define procedure and process to be complied with during auditing, quality control and inspection and policing conduct of auditors. The act plays a role in minimizing the occurrence of conflict of interest by accountants. An auditing firm is prohibited from carrying out other consulting services for the firm to avoid conflict of interest. The second title define the independence of auditors whose aim is to limit conflict of interest and addresses the requirement of approval for new auditor, the requirements of auditor reporting and auditor partner rotation for a given company. The third title under the law gives the senior executives individual responsibility for completeness and accuracy of financial reports. The fourth title of the act offers description of enhanced reporting requirement for financial transactions. Title five of the act defines the measure put in place to restore investor’s confidence. The sixth title describes the processes involved in instilling confidence among the investors by defining the authority of security and exchange commission in barring security professionals from practice. Title seven of the law requires the security and exchange commission and the comptroller general to study financial reports of public companies and reports them. Title eight of the act consists of the corporate and criminal fraud act of 2002 which describes specific penalty for corporate and criminal fraud such as alteration or destruction of financial records, interference with investigations and also provides protection to whistle blowers. Title nine is called the white collar crime penalty enhancement act of 2002 that increases penalty related to conspiracies and white collar crimes. Title ten makes it a law for the chief executive officer to sign company tax returns. The eleventh title of the act identifies corporate fraud and criminalizes tampering with records thus making the offender liable to specific penalties. Sarbanes-Oxley act of 2002 played a key role in coming up with strict rules and laws that control the practice of accountancy thus enhancing professionalism. Although the act has tried to reduce the level in accounting based crimes, much need to be done in ensuring that all accountants adhere to the law. This can be done by raising awareness to both the accountants and the public, tightening penalties against accounting related crimes and coming up with policies that enhance transparency and accountability in the profession (Mallor, Bowers &Langvardt, 2010).
Technological concern in accountingWith the invention of computer and accounting software, the practice of accounting has changed. Accounting and computer software have allowed many accounting applications to be conducted accurately and urgently. Although information technology has increased urgency and accuracy in recording financial statements and preparing financial reports, new risks have emerged. There is high chance of sabotage occurring when using accounting software which leads to leak of accounting information to outsiders. For instance, virus may distort information and lead to loss of data stored in computer systems. Highly computer literate accountants may engage in fraud which may take long to detect and so they may use loopholes within the information system to defraud the organization (Terry &Elaine, 2008). Despite the risks and ethical issues that have confronted application of information technology in accounting profession, there are measures that have been taken to address the issues. There are federal laws governing technology such as those governing patents, copyrights and trademarks. Due to public exposure over the internet, there has been need for ethical control and review where businesses are required to monitor the activities of their employees to safeguard trade secrets and other intellectual properties that the company has developed and used to expand their competitive edge in the market (Mallor, Bowers &Langvardt, 2010).
In conclusion, it is imperative that accountants maintain high level of ethical standards and law when conducting their work especially in the contemporary work environment that is characterized by information technology. When accountants maintain the stipulated ethics and maintain the laws and regulations that govern the profession, there are high chances that crimes related to accounting profession are going to reduce and the profession is going to be regarded highly.
ReferencesMallor, J. P., Bowers, T. L., & Langvardt, A. W. (2010). Business law: The ethical, global ande-commerce environment (14th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill.
Hoffman,M.,Judith,K. & Edward,P.(1996).The Ethics of Accounting and Finance: Trust,Responsibility and Control. Boston: Quorum books.
Steven,B.(2007).Accounting best practices. Boston:McGraw.
Terry,H & Elaine,I. (2008).Law and Ethics in Business Environment. Chicago: Chicago
university press.
Herbert,B.(2007). Legal, Ethical and International Environment of Business.New York:Routlege
Publishers.
Ethical Issues and Decision Making Models in Psychology
Ethical Issues and Decision Making Models in Psychology
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Abstract
Diversity in society’s phenomenon calls for effective approaches to addressing and understanding the conceptual and analytical aspects of these phenomenon with which there is always a “conflict to be”, foreseen or unforeseen, necessitating professionalism and mindful practices by psychologists. Ethical dilemma can be viewed as a situation which involves complexities of mental conflict between moral imperatives that is, by applying one imperative then the other one is automatically transgressed. Society’s institutions advocates for various moral imperatives such as ethics, compromise, integrity, law and other ethical systems within a given moral code. To study and evaluate a group of individuals for a specific phenomenon entails effective assessment of the subjects under study; their needs and wants, clarification of the problem and identification of appropriate intervention and employing appropriate resources for developing and implementing feasible and applicable solutions. Needs assessment thus as a sub-sector of the evaluation process calls for systematically addressing particular needs and/or identifying and mitigating the current conditions with respect to the desired or standard conditions. It is therefore a responsibility of psychology professional to alleviate the gap between the current and the desired conditions using the best and standard ethical provisions stipulated in the area of study and specialization.
Key words: Ethical dilemma, need assessment, ethical decision making, case study, real life situations and conflicts, models
Introduction
Community- based research as an approach entails partnering with the community members, representatives and researchers in which they share power, resources and credits and knowledge of the phenomenon understudy in all aspects within the research process. The community in this context involves the subjects understudy; individual with a common problem or goal, a community within a given geographical space and/or a collaboration of individuals with a given expertise with an aim of investigating a set of individuals or phenomenon in the society. This implies that each and every individual participating in the research process has a chance of creating knowledge of the advancement of the field of study and/ or brings a new perspective to the world of research through incorporating research, reflection and appropriate action in a cyclical manner (Wesley and Buysse, 2006). This process is faced with ethical dilemmas in that the interdependence of phenomenon denies the professionals an explicit differentiation and separation of phenomenon in a bid to identify/ study and provide the appropriate course of action. This calls for needs assessment in a bid to identify and peg individual needs for the research process which are varied with respect to the area of specialization, the subjects under evaluation, scope of the study, the audience and available funds to see the process through. The needs assessment necessitates application of a given model; a platform to integrate all the aspects of the research process, a series of steps to ensure the right decisions are made within each and every stage of the process (Iphofen& Palgrave Connect, 2009) and this paper will evaluate the ethical dilemmas of the case study provided and link it with the 10-step decision making process in the Canadian code of ethics for psychologists.
In our case study, one of the ethical dilemmas is choice of the population for study whereby in evaluation of a societal problem such as drug use and addiction, a relatively larger population and heterogeneous for that case should be analyzed. For instance, by choosing to study “low income minority youths” the evaluation is justified depending with the available funds but compromises on the scope and efficiency/impact in that serious issues such as drug use and addiction not only affects a fraction of the society but the general society irrespective of economic and social backgrounds. In addition, the old friend’s need to serve the at-risks kids is a moral imperative that is challenged by unavailability of funds to foresee the progress, a twist that involves the psychologist’s use of a wise decision making model to balance of weigh in the available fund, the impacts of the process, the scope and time factor.
As discussed, an effective decision making strategy is paramount and in our case we shall employ the 10 step decision making process by the Canadian code of ethics for psychologists to describe the plausible responses for the ethical dilemmas. First, I would identify individuals and groups that are affected by the decision; a process achieved by evaluating who, what, where and respective degree of the impact to the population or individual, evaluate the existence of uncertainty revolving around ethical issues and clarify the assumption I might make in the process. This will be easier in the process of need assessment which by evaluating individual needs, appropriate decision can be made with respect to the scope of the study and available resources. The next step will be to identify the ethically relevant issues and practices; personal and community interests, rights and other aspects/ circumstances of the social setting with which the problem arose; understanding the factors that contribute to the drug use in a particular setting and widening of the study population for reliability and accuracy. This would later be followed by evaluation of how personal bias, stress or self- interest might influence my choice between various courses of action; declaration of conflict of interest if any in the process of decision making more so on the population to be included and the integrity purposed during the reporting and dissemination stages. For instance, for credibility of the results and the objectivity of the study my decisions concerning the scope of the study will greatly differ with those of the old friend since as a psychology professional I would consider a sample that represents the whole society with no bias or self-interests of profits from the grant.
The next step would be to develop several courses of action a process that I would accomplish by brainstorming and ensuring flexibility to touch all the stakeholders; evaluating choices and alternatives that have not been considered and counter-matching the solutions with the interests of the primary stakeholders. The next step would be analyzing the short term, ongoing and long term risks and benefits of each course of action that is, evaluation of how the process affects the primary stakeholders; how these effects will impact on their interactions with the secondary stakeholders such as self, family, client and employing institution or other students. This step would later be followed by the choice of action which would be guided by principles values and standards of research ethics and the problem under study. The choice of action would later be followed by the action stage whereby as a consultant I would assume full responsibilities for the consequences; the potential positive and negative consequences of the affected persons, magnitude and the probability of occurrence, evaluation of broader systemic consequences as tied to symbolic and secrecy and consideration of cognitive barriers and biases. Step 8 would be evaluation of results for taking the action whereby I would evaluate the intuition aspects of the decision I made and evaluate on the expert decision making aspects as a consultant with experience in the field of research. The next step would be assuming responsibilities for the action and re-engaging with the decision making process if the issue was not resolved which will be the landscape for the 10th and final step of the decision making process of taking warranted action in line to feasibility to prevent future occurrences of the dilemma (Pope & Vasquez, 2010).
Ethical decision making models smoothens the need assessment stage of the research process such that identification of the impacts and benefits accrues to the participants in an equal proportion regardless of the role and scope. For instance, by applying the model in the real life situations and conflicts, as a consultant I will have achieved objectivity and credible information by adhering to all standard procedures; my old friend would benefit from the funding based on data provided and the widened scope of the study to cover the state rather than a section of the community and the study subjects will have a chance to learn more on dangers of drug use, personal expression and relations within the heterogeneity of culture, race, religious orientation and other socio-cultural aspects in life (DeCremer, 2009).
Conclusion
The evaluation of sensitive societal phenomenon such as drug use calls for appropriate decision making model of which the one given above satisfies the course due to its benefits such as giving the participants a chance to incorporate research in the process; gives the process/ groups a chance to present iterative ideas, reflection and course of action, all in cyclical process. Though the model is seen as a “time consuming deliberation” with little consultation with parties affected, the model has an explicit procedure of achieving the desired results but needs exploration on the interaction between colleagues and other advisory bodies in the research field.
References
De, C. D. (2009). Psychological perspectives on ethical behavior and decision making. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Pub.
Iphofen, R., & Palgrave Connect (Online service). (2009). Ethical decision making in social research: A practical guide. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Pope, K. S., & Vasquez, M. J. T. (2010). Ethics in Psychotherapy and Counseling: A Practical Guide. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.
Wesley, P., & Buysse, V. (January 01, 2006). Ethics and Evidence in Consultation. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 26, 3, 131-141