Ethics

• • Ethical considerations are put in place to ensure that both the participants and the researcher are protected during psychological research
• • The British Psychological Society (BPS) publishes a code of conduct that all psychologists must adhere to in order to have their research approved by a funding bodyand to maintain their professional reputation
• • The code of conduct focuses on four key ethical principles:
  • Respect
  • Competence
  • Responsibility
  • Integrity
• Universities and research institutions have their own ethics committees which review proposed research
• Researchers should go through a cost-benefit analysisbefore conducting their research 
• The cost- benefit analysis includes:

  • if a specific procedure/task is used how will it impact the participants?
  • to what extent can participants be deceived or put under some stress in the task whilst still maintaining an ethical stance?
  • to what extent can the aim of the study be preservedif ethics are applied too rigorously i.e. is there a point where the study aim is kept intact and participants are fully protected too?
• Informed consent and right to withdraw: Participants should have detailed information about what they will be required to do to be able to make an informed decision about taking part in the research. Must be told about the nature of the task, length of task and warned about potential hazards
• • If participants are below the age of 16 years, parental consent needs to be gained
• Those who are under the influence of alcohol or drugs are not able to give informed consent
• Deception: occurs in a study when the participants are informed of a false aim/task or when the researcher introduces fake elements to the procedure
• • Sometimes, to preserve the integrity/validity of the aim, it might be necessary to introduce some (mild) deception of participants
• • Prior general consent
  • Participants agree to be deceived but do not know how they will be deceived
  • This can affect participants' behaviour as they are expecting to be deceived
• • Presumptive  consent
  • Consent is gained from people who have a similar background to the participants
  • If they say they would consent to take part, then it is deemed that the actual participants would also consent
• • Retrospective consent
  • This requires asking the participants for informed consent after the research has taken place 
• Protection from harm: Participants must be protected from harm before, during and after the research process has taken place
• • Harm constitutes any physical, psychological oremotional damage inflicted on participants as a result of 
• • One way of protecting participants from harm is to ensure that they have given fully informed consent and that they are aware of their right to withdraw
• • Researchers must be constantly vigilant as to the safety of participants
  • Have they considered all of the possible ways in which participants might suffer negative outcomesbased on their participation in the study?
  • Have they put checks in place throughout the procedure so that participants are protected?
  • Do they have sufficient strategies in place to aidparticipants who appear to be responding negatively to the procedure?
• Privacy refers to any invasion of an individual’s private space/environment which could be said to go beyond the boundaries of what is acceptable in terms of the topic being investigated
• • The BPS guidelines instruct researchers to respect the privacy of participants so that individuals are not personally identifiable unless an individual so wishes, and then only with clear, unambiguous informed consent
• Confidentiality refers to the guideline which states that participants’ data should not be disclosed or available to anyone outside of the research process
• • Confidential data cannot be traced back to any participant
• • When the research is published it should not give any indications as to who the participants were and details as to the location of the research should be kept as minimalas possible