ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS

• What are ethical issues?

  Arise during a study due to conflict between the need for valid results and the protection of the participant
• what are ethical implications?

  the effects a piece of research could have beyond the study itself
• why are ethical implications hard to predict?

  researchers have little to no influence over how findings are presented in the media, how their work impacts public policy and how it affects perception of some groups in society
• what is socially sensitive research?

  research that has ethical implications and could produce risks for people other than the participants
• what are the three concerns of socially sensitive research?

  negative consequences

  politics

  validity
• what are negative consequence?

  some studies may give scientific status to prejudice and discrimination so it is justified
• what are the effects on politics?

  politicians could use the findings in the wrong way and influence government policy
• what are the effects of a lack of validity?

  some findings may be a false representation of a group
• how can research become less socially sensitive?

  submitting proposals to ethics committees

  weigh up possible costs and benefits

  take care when formulating aims and framing questions

  need to be alert to possibility of misuse and take steps to present findings in a neutral way

  take steps to avoid discriminatory media representation
• how did Burt’s research on IQ have negative consequences?

  research established the 11+ in schools, believed intelligence to be genetic but later found his research was made up and he invented two research assistants. The 11+ was still used for many years afterwards, impacting lives
• Evaluation point 1

  Benefits of SSR

  benefitted society for example research into unreliability of eye witness testimony has reduced the risk of false sentencing within the legal system. suggests it may play a valuable role
• Evaluation point 2

  drawback of SSR

  Bowlby’s study on maternal deprivation had influenced government policy and created prejudice surrounding working mothers even though later research found the role of the father was just as significant
• Evaluation point 3

  Limitation of SSR

  may be used for social control, using research to justify eugenics and compulsory sterilisation