Deception

• Deception means deliberately misleading or withholding information from participants at any stage of the investigation
• there are occasions where deception can be justified if it does not cause the participant undue distress
• participants should be told what their data will be used for
• at the end of the study participants should be given a full debrief, in which participants should be made aware of the true aims of the investigation and any details they were not supplied with during the study
• they should be given the right to withdraw from the study and the right to withhold data
• they should be reassured if they have any issues
• if they require counselling the researcher should provide it