In the practice of clinical psychology, which of the following would not be considered a serious violation of mandated professional conduct, demanding immediate supervisory attention?
Explanation
Answer: D - Conducting a methodologically-flawed study, and admitting afterwards that the conclusions were premature because of those methodological flaws, while hardly an activity to encourage in a psychologist, at least shows some responsibility is being taken. Supervisory guidance to minimize sloppy methodology in the future should be helpful, but dealing with this non-violation of the Ethics Code is less urgent than dealing with behavior that is deliberately deceptive like misrepresenting benefits to research participants. Likewise, when a therapist “forgets” to ask for the patient’s permission to record his statements during therapy, it could be because the therapist wants the recording but does not expect to receive permission from the patient.
