Ethics and Peer Review

• Informed Consent:

  • When participants can make an informed decision about whether to take part or not.
  • To deal with it, we can gain consent or ask them formally, but this may invalidate the purpose of the study.
• Deception:

  • Should only be used when approved by an ethics committee as it involved deliberately misleading.
  • Participants should be fully debriefed.
• Ethical Issues:

  • All participants should have the right to withdraw.
  • This may cause a bias as the ones that stayed are obedient and some may not withdraw as they feel they are spoiling the study.
  • Participants should all have protection from all harm.
• Confidentiality:

  • Concerns the communication of personal information.
  • The researchers should not record any names but use numbers or use false names.
• Peer Review:

  • Peer review is an initial run-through of the procedure to be used in an investigation.
  • It involved selecting a few people and trying to figure out the study on them.
• Peer Review AO3: Strength:

  • It may save money and time by identifying any flaws with the procedure.
• Peer Review AO3: Weakness:

  • Any research that opposes mainstream theories tends to be suppressed.
  • Fraudulent research can be long-lasting (MMR vaccine link with Autism)
• Features of Science:

  Objectivity and the Empirical method
• Paradigm:

  A set of shared assumptions and agreed methods within a scientific discipline.
• Paradigm Shift:

  • The result of a scientific revolution.
  • A significant change within a theory.
• Objectivity:

  • When sources of personal bias are minimised so don’t distort the research.
• Empirical Method:

  • Approaches that gather evidence through observation.
• Replicability:

  • The extent to which procedures can be repeated by other experimenters.
• Falsifiability:

  • The idea that a theory is not scientific until it agrees that it could be untrue.
• Psychology as a Science AO3: Strength:

  • Findings of studies positively impact society and individuals.
  • Scientific methods are used in many research studies giving them scientific credibility.
• Psychology as a Science AO3: Weakness:

  • Not all research is generalisable.
  • Experiment interpretations can be subjective.