issues

• in psychological research, it is important that participants are protected from any negative effects of having taken part in the study
• ethical issues

  when there is a conflict between the rights of participants to be safe and the goals of research to produce variable data
• BPS


  british psychological society
• BPS Code of Ethics and Conduct (2009) identifies four principles

  1. respect for the dignity and worth of all persons.
  2. competence - maintenance of high standards.
  3. responsibility - protecting participants from harm
  4. integrity - honest and accurate
• intentional deception is only acceptable when it is necessary to protect research integrity. deception should be disclosed to all participants at the earliest opportunity.
• participants should be aware of right to withdraw at any time.
• psychologists must debrief participants at the end. if participants were deceived, during the debrief the true aim of research should be revealed
• ethics

  standards that the BPS has produced that guide psychological research. there are 4 key principles: respect, competence, integrity, responsibility
• one way to judge the acceptability of the research design is to consider whether participants are likely to object or show unease when debriefed.
• 6 main issues that can cause conflict between researchers and participants in psychological research:

  • informed consent
  • deception
  • right to withdraw
  • protection from harm
  • confidentiality
  • privacy
• participant should be made aware of the aims of the research, the procedures, right to withdraw, and what their data will be used for.
• participants should be able to make a decision without feeling concerned or oblidged.
• asking for fully informed consent can make the data invalid (demand characteristics)
• researchers should not deceive without a good cause
• if a participant agrees to participate without knowing the true aim and task then they might become distressed (meaning the researcher has failed to protect them from harm)
• if the information about the aims of the research are withheld, participants can not give informed consent.
• when trying to balance informed consent and gathering meaningful data, it can be necessary to deceive participants about the true aims of the research
• there's an important distinction between withholding some details of the research aims (reasonably acceptable) and deliberately providing false information (less acceptable)
• participants must be able to withdraw at any point. especially if they feel uncomfortable or distressed. it is even more important if they have been deceived (no informed consent)
• if participants do leave it can bias results
• participants who stayed in the study are likely to be different to those who withdrew (higher level of resilience, more obedient). this leads to a bias sample as the types of people who withdrew are no longer represented
• nothing should happen to the participant that causes harm (physical or psychological).
• it is considered acceptable when the risk of harm is no greater than they would experience in everyday life
• participants should leave the study in the same state they entered.
• studying important psychological questions may involve a risk of distress.
• it can be difficult for researchers to predict all the potential outcomes of certain procedures (Stanford prison experiment).
• any potential harm needs to be communicated to the participants so they can give informed consent
• the data protection act makes confidentiality a legal right.
• it is only acceptable for personal data to be recorded if the data is made in a format which does not identify the participant.
• it is difficult to protect confidentiality because researchers want to publish their findings. to overcome this, a researcher can guarantee anonymity by using numbers instead of names so individuals cannot be identified.
• there are certain situations where people do not expect to be observed (in their own homes). this can be an invasion of privacy
• some research topics require participants to be unaware that they are a participant until the research has ended/data has been collected.
• researchers must be careful that they do not invade the privacy of others