Ethics

• what is informed consent?

  Telling the participants the aim of the experiment, the methods and their rights to withdraw so that they can make an informed decision without coersion. This may make research meaningless as the participant's behaviour would change and won't be natural if they knew the aim. If participant is under 16, they can't legally give consent.
• what is protection?

  This is the participant's protection from any harm, physically and psychologically. They should not be placed under any more risk than they would be during their daily lives, which is hard to assess as researchers don't always know what might be distressing to the participant
• what is debriefing?

  telling the participants all about the research and what the results show. The participants have a right to withhold their data
• 5 examples of ethical issues

  Can and Can't Do With Participants

  • consent
  • confidentiality
  • deception
  • withdrawal
  • protection
• what are ethical issues?

  issues that arise when a conflict exists between the rights of a participant and the goals of the research to provide meaningful, valid data
• what is deception?

  deliberately misleading or withholding information from participants at any stage. Sometimes, it can be justified if it does not cause any distress for the participant. Deception is needed as people change behaviour when they find the aim.
• what is privacy?

  freedom from intrusion into one's personal matters and information
• what is BPS?

  British Psychological Society

  • they provide the BPS code of ethics which gives ethical guidelines
  • tells UK psychologists what is acceptable
  • ethic committee use a cost - benefit analysis to see if research should go ahead
  • code of ethics is built around 4 principles
• what is confidentiality?

  personal information that should not be disclosed without the client's consent

  participants should not be identifiable from the reports produced

  if data is not completely anonymous, the participant should be warned
• what are the 4 principles that the code of ethics is made up of?

  • respect
  • competence
  • responsibility
  • integrity
• how to deal with confidentiality

  • participants name should not be used - referred to as letter, number or fake name
  • nothing identifying the participant should be published - anonymity has to be maintained
  • participants need to be warned if the data is not going to be completely anonymous
• how to deal with informed consent ethically

  • participant's should ideally be told the aim and how their data would be used but this means that their behaviour may not be natural
  • for naturalistic observation, consent is not obtained, and this is acceptable as long as it is done in a public place where people would expect to be observed by others
• three types of consent

  • presumptive consent - rather than getting consent from the participants, a similiar group of people are asked if the study is acceptable, if they agree, then the consent of the actual participants is presumed
  • prior general consent - participants give their consent beforehand to take part in a number of different studies - including one that would involve deception. By consenting, they consent to being deceived.
  • retrospective consent - asking them for consent after the experiment has taken place.
• how to deal with the right to withdraw

  • tell participants that participation is voluntary even if they are being paid
  • tell them that they can leave at any time with their data if they wish
  • they may still feel like they can't leave as they may ruin the research
• how to deal with protection from harm

  • measures to be taken to make sure that participants are not physically or psychologically harmed
  • they shouldn't be at any more risk as they are in their daily lives, which includes feeling embarrassed or stressed
  • if they feel uncomfortable, the study needs to be stopped.
  • give them chance for counselling if psychologically harmed
• cost benefit analysis

  the BPS (ethics committee) weigh up the costs against the benefits when deciding whether the study should occur

  cost - damage to participant, psychology reputation

  benefit - value of research
• animal research ethics

  ✔ animal research has provided valuable information for psychological and medical research

  ✔ some experiments cannot be done on humans

  ✖ ethically wrong to cause harm and suffering for animals and they cannot give consent

  ✖ cruel to experiment on animals with similiar intelligence as humans as they might suffer the same way we do - but cannot experiment with less intelligent animals as results won't apply to us
• how to deal with deception

  • avoid it if possible as it will cause participants to feel uncomfortable
  • debrief participants after the study and give them a chance to withdraw
  • gain consent from ethics committee who will weigh up the costs of the study against the benefit
  • should be given counselling if needed
  • can ask independent people if they would object to the study - if they object then it can't be done with naïve participants
  • try to give them general ideas
• why ethical guidelines don't solve all problems

  • some researchers won't follow the guidelines properly
  • psychologists cannot be banned from research if they conduct research in an unacceptable way - can be kicked out of university and BPS
  • hard to assess things like psychological harm, or fully justify use of deception
  • cost vs benefit analysis is not easy - dilemma for psychologists