Ethical Issues In The Tudor Study

The Tudor study or informally known as the Monster Study was a psychological experiment proposed by Wendell Johnson in conjunction with Mary Tudor to investigate the behaviors of stuttering children. Johnson attended McPherson College, Kansas before he was recommended to the State University of Iowa as they were conducting in-depth research into speech impairments such as stuttering. Johnson was afflicted with a stutter however he was not born with this speech impediment he developed it later in his childhood. It was this that prompted his interest in studying language delays. The aim in this investigation was to see whether children would adapt or stutters if they were labeled labels influence children It was conducted in 1939 for approximately 3 to 4 months using 22 carefully selected orphaned children from Davenport, Iowa as subjects. The children were aged

Although this study achieved substantial results and drew some accurate conclusions the method taken to attain these results were unethical. The investigation took place 51 years prior to the introduction of the Code of Human Research Ethics and breaches many of the procedures outlined in the code.

Guideline 2 was violated as the psychological wellbeing of the participants was jeopardised due to the discomfort stimulated within the children. Claims have been made by the partakers of the experiment appealing for compensation to recompense for the irreversible damage done to the children and their speech. Most participants that were told that they had a stutter now report a chronic stutter. After the study was completed, appropriate care was not given to the subjects to attempt to reverse the affects forced upon the children. Although Mary