Ethics

• Ethical issues

  • an ethical issue is a conflict between what the researcher needs in order to conduct useful and meaningful research and the rights of the participant
• Protection from physical and psychological harm

  to study some of the more important questions in psychology it may be necessary to cause a degree of distress. In many experiments, it is difficult to predict the outcome so it can be difficult to guarantee protection from harm. It is considered acceptable if the distress is no more than they experience in everyday life. Participants should leave the experiment in the same physical and psychological state as they entered
• Resolving the issue - protection from harm

  there are 2 ways to resolve the issue:

  -the right to withdraw

  -debrief
• The right to withdraw

  participants should always be informed of their right to withdraw from the study at any point and without reason. This should happen before the study, during the study and again after the study
• Debrief

  a thorough debrief should occur after the study to ensure the participants can ask any questions, receive access to any counselling or therapy and are reassured that their results will be kept confidential
• Deception

  it is sometimes necessary to deceive participants (not tell them the truth) to prevent them altering their behaviour and making the results of the study meaningless. Deception is unethical as it prevents participants from being bale to fully give informed consent. Participants may also view psychologists as untrustworthy - they may not want to take part in future research
• Resolving the issue - deception

  one way to resolve deception is debriefing. Participants should be informed of the true nature of the study and be offered information about the findings of the study
• Confidentiality

  participants have the right to control information about themselves. If a participants details are held (like their name), then this information must be protected. It must be kept hidden and not revealed
• Resolving the issue - confidentiality

  anonymity must be maintained. Researchers usually refer to participants using numbers/initials/ pseudonyms when writing up the investigation
• The lack of informed consent

  informed consent is when the researcher informs the participants of the true aims of the study and tells them what is going to happen. However, this could mean that participants alter their behaviour to meet the expectations of the experimenter. Participants should be told what they're required to do, so they can make an informed decision on whether they wish to participate
• Issues with informed consent

  according to the BPS, participants should provide voluntary informed consent. However, this is not always possible: if children are participating, when deception is necessary, in a field experiment (when particpants aren't aware)
• Resolving the issue - lack of informed consent

  -prior general consent - this involves participants giving consent to participate in research that involves deception

  -presumptive consent - by asking people who are similar to the participants whether they would consent. If they do, it's assumed the real participants will

  -parental consent - if an investigation involves participants under 16, a signature of parental consent is required
• Consent forms

  they need to include:

  -purpose of the investigation

  -procedural information

  -ethical information
• Procedural Information

  procedural information includes: the way the participants' functioning will be assessed before and after the 'treatment', the researcher is trained to conduct the research, the duration of the study and the random allocation of conditons
• Ethical information

  ethical information includes: no pressure to consent, they can withdraw at any time, they can withdraw their data, data is kept confidential and anonymous, they should feel free to ask questions at any time and they will receive a full debrief at the end of the programme