Ethical considerations

• what 4 ethical principles are in the BPS Code of Conduct?

  • respect
  • competence
  • responsibility
  • intergrity
• what are the 4 major ethical issues participants may face?

  • informed consent
  • deception
  • protection from psychological and physical harm
  • confidentiality and privacy
• what is informed consent?

  when a participant willingly agrees to partake in a study/experiment that is going to be conduted by the psychologist. The researcher must give as much information about the study/experiment so the participant can make an informed choice whether they want to take part.
• how do you deal with a lack of informed consent?

  • presumptive consent
  • prior general consent
  • retrospective consent
• what is presumptive consent?

  when a non-participant within the same target population is asked based of the aim and procedures if they would partake in this study. This would then be applied to the participant who are involved in the study as it is presumed that they would be happy to partake.
• what is prior general consent?

  the group of real participants would be given a list of all the possible tests in the study/experiment, including the actual test. The participants would then state which ones they would give consent to, meaning the researchers got consent secretly.
• what is retrospective consent?

  Consent given from the participants after the experiment/study has already taken place. This would be collected during a mandatory debrief, as the researcher needs to know if they can use the participants data that they have collected
• why do we need informed consent?

  Ethical practice. Needed to make the study valid within the Ethical Committee.

  -> a lack of informed consent can lead to deception. Deception is allowed in the study to an extent if it is needed. Otherwise the experiment would lack validity
• what is deception?


  • when a participant doesn't know the true aim of the study whilst being tricked into taking part in the study.
  • however, deception is needed to a degree to make sure participants dont demonstrate social desirability bias or demand characteristics that would influence the results drastically -> if there is a justifiable reason then the deception is allowed
• what is confidentiality? 


  the secrecy and protection of a participants' details within a study - e.g. their name would be replaced by a unique identifier to remain anonymous
• why must confidentiality be assured?

  • participants might not give true answers or present their real behaviour if they think that people may be able to identify them.
  • there could be damaging consequences if the participant was identified -> especially id sensitive data is being collected
• what is privacy?


  the right of a person to control of their output of personal information (about themselves)
• how can privacy be seen in an experiment?

  a participant doesn't have to respond to a question the researcher askes them
• how can privacy affect an experiment?

  • if the experiment was conducted as an observation/ natural experiment, then there are guidelines that have to be followed as the participants dont know that they are being observed.
  • guidelines: participants need to be over the age of 16, if any inappropriate behaviour is witnessed then it cannot be filmed or continually observed.
• how can you protect participants from psychological and physical harm?

  • psychologists can't deliberately upset or harm the participant
  • participant should leave the study in the same mental state the came in with
  • if harm occurs unexpectedly then the psychologist must offer support and have a thorough debrief with the participant to ensure they arent harmed further
• who can give informed consent?

  • children over the age of 16 can provide their own consent
  • children under 16 need a guardian/parent to provide consent
• how can you deal with deception and harm?

  • right to withdraw - allowing the participant to leave the study at any time if they wish to no longer continue -> this should be provided at all times during the study: standardised instructions, informed consent, during investigation, during debrief
  • withdrawing would also allow a 2 week window for the participant to withdraw their data from the study so it cannot be published
• how can you deal with deception and harm? part 2

  • debriefing -> talking/interviewing the participant so they are mad aware of the true aim, procedures, purposes. other participants, IV & DV that they may or haven't consented to take part in
• what is a Cost-Benefit analysis?

  • Evaluation of the pros and cons of completing a study
  • questions that would help to consider the study: What harm might affect the participants and/ or society?, Will the results improve society?, Is the investigation worth conducting if there are too many ethical issues?
• What is the ethical committee?

  a board of people who asses the approval of research before it can be conducted

  • they would look at all the ethical issues that might occur in the study and will provide recommendations & feedback. Alongside weighing the benefits for society
• What does BPS stand for?

  British Psychological Society
• rejection from the Ethics Committee

  there will be punishments if someone doesn't follow the ethics:

  • they can be disbarred from conducting research
  • disbarred from BPS