Ethical issues arise in psychology when a conflict or dilemma exists between participants rights and researcher's needs to gain valuable and meaningful findings. This conflict has implications for the safety and wellbeing of participants. For instance, a researcher may not wish to reveal the true purpose of a research study to participants in order to study more natural behaviour.
Informed Consent
Prospective participants should know what they are getting into before they begin the research. Informed Consent involves making participants aware of the aims of the research, the procedures, their rights (including the right to withdraw) and also what their data will be used for. Participants should then make an informed decision whether or not to take part without being coerced or feeling obliged.
Who cannot consent to take part in a study, and how can we overcome this?
Children - Parent or legal guardian consent on their behalf
Challenged Individuals - Consent from family
Deception
Deception means deliberately misleading or withholding information from participants at any stage of the investigation. This is linked to informed consent; participants who have not been given adequate information when they agreed to take part cannot be said to have given informed consent.
There are occasions were deception can be justified if it does not cause the participant undue distress. E.g. In a study where one conditioned is a cup of coffee and the other condition is water it would be okay to not tell the participants there is another condition.
Protection from harm
As a result of their involvement, participants should not be placed at any more risk than they would be in their daily lives and should be protected from physical and psychological harm; this includes being made to feel embarrassed, inadequate or being placed under stress or pressure. An important aspect of protection of participants is the right to withdraw at any point.
Privacy and Confidentiality
Participants have the right to control information about themselves. This is the right of privacy; if this is invaded then confidentiality should be protected. Confidentiality refers to our right, Under the data protection act, to have any personal data protected. The right to privacy extends to the area where the study took place, so institutions and locations are not named.
