Ethical Issues

• an ethical issue is where there is the potential for participants to be harmed to some way during the research
• the BPS (British psychological society) created a set of guidelines (2006) in Britain which are constantly updated
• there are 6 guidelines:

  informed consent

  deception

  right to withdraw

  confidentiality

  protection from harm

  privacy
• researchers must attempt too get informed consent from p's, this is only possible when the p's know exactly what they are signing up for
• consent for children must be obtained from their parents or guardian, consent for adults with impairments (mental difficulties) must be obtained from a person who would know if the p would want to take part
• when there is a lack of informed consent it means that p's have not been told enough about the study to make an informed decision
• deception should be avoided whenever possible. p's should be informed of the purpose of the study as soon as possible
• if deception is essential then the researcher must ensure that:

  1. there is no other way of carrying out the procedure
  2. they debrief p's asap
• p's should be told that they have the right to withdraw at any time during the study, they also have the right to withdraw their data as well as themselves
• when there is lack of the right withdraw p's feel like they must continue and cannot leave the study for some reason
• the p's results and any personal information should remain confidential unless the p has agreed otherwise
• p's should be protected from physical and psychological harm, they should not be exposed to any risk that would not usually encounter in everyday life
• if harm does occur in a study then the researcher should refer the p to a professional for advice
• observations could invade someone's privacy, if p's are unaware that they are being observed they should only be observed in a place where they expect people to observe them eg bus stop
• if people are observed anywhere other then the public eye then this would be classed as a lack of privacy
• there are ways of overcoming ethical issues, these include:

  debriefing

  role play

  presumptive consent

  gaining prior general consent

  gaining retrospective consent

  following the guidelines

  ethical committees

  dealing with confidentiality
• debriefing is the process of fully informing the p of the nature and aim of the research so they can discuss and issues they may have
• debriefing is used to deal with any deception or psychological harm
• role play is the act of asking p's to react in a way they would think they would if the situation was real
• role play is used to overcome deception, harm, lack of informed consent and right to withdraw
• presumptive consent is when the researcher asks member of the public who are similar to the p's how they feel about taking part in such as study
• presumptive consent can be used to overcome most ethical issues
• gaining prior general consent involves telling the p's about any possible ethical concerns before the study is carried out
• gaining retrospective consent this involves asking the p for their consent and if their data can be used
• psychologists should follow the guidelines outlined by the BPS
• if a psychologist is unsure whether their study is ethical they can take it to the ethical committee who are a board of experts and weigh up the value of the research against the ethical problems that get flagged
• to deal with confidentiality, researchers sometimes use number or initials instead of the p's real names