Ethics

• Consent: 

  Revealing the true aims of the study, or at least letting the participant know what is actually going to happen. Participants must be aware of what they are needed to do as part of the study in order to give valid consent.

  If the study involves children parental consent must be obtained.
• Deception: 

  Deliberately misleading or with holding information. Deceiving participants must be kept to a minimum. Withholding details of the research to avoid influencing behaviour is acceptable, deliberately providing false information is not acceptable. If telling the truth will not have an effect on results participants must be informed.
• Confidentiality:

  Communication of personal information from one person to another and the trust this will be protected. Psychologists need to be sure the information they publish will not allow their participants to be identified.
• Debrief

   If consent cannot be obtained participants must be fully debriefed afterwards. Involves telling the participant about the experiment and then giving them the option of withdrawing their information if they wish
• Withdraw

   Even after giving consent participants still have the right to leave the experiment at any point in time. The p’s must be made aware of this when they sign the consent form. 
• Protection from harm

  Participants should be no worse off when they leave an experiment as to when they arrived. Risk is considered acceptable if it is no greater than what would be experienced in everyday life.