ethical issues

• ethical issues - issues that arise due to conflict between the rights of participants and the goals of the research to provide meaningful, valid data.

  e.g ofsted come into a school to see how the teachers and students behaviour is so they can rate it, due to this the teachers and students behaviour changes so ofsted cannot take valid, meaningful data
• ethical guidelines for researchers:

  • Consent (informed) - informing the participant of what they are getting into
  • Confidentiality - anonymous participants + results are confidential
  • Deception - misleading someone
  • Withdraw (the right to) - participant is not comfortable therefore they have the right to withdraw from the experiment
  • Protection from harm (physical and mental) - participants have a right to be protected from harm .
• Dealing with ethical issues

  informed consent - p's should be given full details of the study including the aims, what they will be asked to do and how there data will be used. once they have this info they can formally agree to indicate their agreement. e.g give p's a consent form and signed, if children under 16 then need parental consent
• other ways to deal with informed consent is:

  presumptive consent - rather than getting consent from the p's a similar group of people are asked if the study is acceptable, if this group agree, then consent of the original p's is 'presumed'

  prior general consent- p's give their permission to take part in a number of different studies, including one that will involve deception. by consenting, p's are effectively consenting to be deceived.

  retrospective consent- asking p's for consent after they have taken place in the study.
• deception - deliberately misleading/withholding info from p's

  • avoid it if at all possible particularly If it seem likely that participants will object when they find out later.
  • debriefing p's fully (telling p's what their data will be used for) after the study and giving them the right to withdraw their data.
  • gain the approval of an ethics committee who will weigh up the benefits of the study alongside the cost to the participant.
• the right to withdraw -

  • p's should be told their participation is entirely voluntary (even if they're paid)
  • they can leave at any point and take their data if they wish
• protection from harm - (same ways as deception)

  • steps should be taken to ensure p's are not psychologically or physically harmed
  • full debrief
  • p's should not be placed at anymore risks that they would in their normal lives which includes feeling embarrassed or stressed
  • the study should be stopped immediately if p's appear to be uncomfortable
• confidentiality -

  • p's name is not used and instead they should be referred to as a letter or number or use a fake name (anonymity)
  • nothing that would identify the p (e.g photos, addresses etc.) should be published
  • p's must be reminded their data will be protected throughout the process
• confidentiality - personal info that should not be disclosed without the consent of the client
• privacy - freedom from intrusion into one's personal matters and personal info.
• BPS - British psychological society

  • has a code of ethics which includes a set of ethical guidelines
  • tells UK psychologists what is acceptable
  • ethics committees (approve/disapprove) use a cost - benefit analysis to decide if research should go ahead
  • code of ethics is built around 4 principles: respect, competence, responsibility, integrity
• cost-benefit analysis:

  costs - damage to participant, reputation of psychology

  benefits - value of research
• ethical issues

  • informed consent - makings p's aware of the aims of the research, their right to withdraw
  • deception - deliberately misleading/withholding info from participants. can be justified sometimes. i.e in energy drink invest. not telling p's there's another group drinking water as this may affect their behaviour
  • protection from harm - p's should not be placed at any more risk than they would be in their daily lives, reminding them they have the right to withdraw
  • privacy + confidentiality - p's have the right to control info about themselves. confidentiality refers to our right
• once research is over p should be given a full debrief i.e

  • what the researcher was investigating and why
  • what was the participants role in the research, what were the other conditions
  • have they been deceived and why
  • any questions, honest answers
• 2 KEY THINGS FOR A FULL DEBRIEF

  1. aim
  2. conditions/ manipulation of independent variable
• writing a debrief

  thank you for taking part in this study.. the aim was to.. the researchers were looking at/ measuring.. the conditions were... you have the right to withdraw your data...nothing will be published that would allow other people to identify you.. if you have any concerns please don't hesitate to talk to me... do you have questions about the study?
• brief consent form (from mark scheme)

  -> clear + informative, includes what participants will be asked to do and why + shows awareness of ethical considerations

  • no pressure to consent
  • they can withdraw at any time
  • they can withdraw their data from the study
  • their data will be kept confidential and anonymous
  • they should feel free to ask the researcher any questions at any time
  • they will receive a full debrief at the end of the programme
• example

  
• another example