Ethical implications of researcher studies and theory

• Ethical implications are the consequences that psychological research may have on individuals or groups of participants
• social sensitivity is defined as studies in which there are potential consequences or implications either directly for the participants in the research or for the class of individuals represented by the research
• A study on depression may have consequences for individual participants or wider social groups they represent. for example personal information revealed may later be accessed by prospective employers or findings may indicate that people never fully recover. in terms of social policy findings can inform preferred treatment options recommended by the NHS.

  On the other hand research on LTM is unlikely to have consequences
• All psychological research has potential consequences therefore all stages of planning and conducting studies are important
• Sieber and Stanley warn that the way in which research questions are phrased and investigated may influence the way in which findings are interpreted
• Issues like informed consent, confidentiality and psychological harm may be important to socially sensitive research. for example in a study on domestic abuse participants may worry that an ex partner will find out about the study, it is also stressful for participants to recall their experiences

  Some may provide informed consent but may not fully understand the effect of the research
• researchers should consider in advance how research findings may be used as this may impact on what data they collect. this is important because findings from research may be seen as giving scientific acceptance to existing prejudices.

  Sensitive information is exactly what the media tend to be interested in and will publicise
• Socially sensitive research can have benefits for the group who have been studied. An example of this is homosexuality. In 1952, the DSM-1 listed this as a 'sociopathic personality disorder' but removed it in 1973.

  This change has been credited to the Kinsey report which was based on anonymous interviews with over 5000 men about their sexual behaviour . The report concluded that homosexuality is a normal variant of human sexual behaviour.

  Highlights the importance of researcher tackling topics that are sensitive
• In some studies there may be negative consequences. For example, research investigating the genetic basis of criminality has found that there is a criminal gene. If this is true does it mean that someone should be convicted on the basis that they have such gene?

  This suggests that when researching socially sensitive topics,there is a need for very careful consideration of the possible outcomes and their consequences
• certain groups rely on research related to socially sensitive issues

  The government looks to research when developing important social policies i.e decisions related to childcare,mental health etc.It is preferable to base policies on scientific research rather than politically motivated views

  For this reason in the UK there are independent groups who describe themselves as being responsible for collecting and analysis objective statistics about different things. this data is then used in psychological research
• One way to deal with socially sensitive research is to avoid doing it

  This is what people are now doing. The American Psychological Association reported that ethical committees approved 95% of non sensitive proposals that didn't include ethical problems whereas sensitive proposals were only approved about 50% of the time

  Sieber and Stanley advised that ignoring such topics is not a responsible approach. A possibility is to follow qualitative researchers who are more upfront about their own biases