dealing with ethical issues

• British Psychological Society includes a set of ethical guidelines, and the researcher must ensure that they are following these guidelines while conducting an experiment, and if they do not follow them then they are at risk of losing their jobs. It ensures that all of the participants are treated with respect and their dignity remains. These guidelines are implemented by the ethics committee. Also it goes with the cost-benefit approach which is where if it's good for the experiment and the participants it is able to take place. 
• Dealing with informed consent:

  Participants should be given a consent form prior to the experiment and the initial briefing with all of the relevant information that may want to make them withdraw from the experiment. With children under the age of 16 they must also receive parental consent.
• Dealing with deception and protection from harm:

  At the end all participants should be given a debriefing of the study and with this they should be made aware of the true aims and the other groups taking part within the experiment. All participants have the right to withdraw from the experiment and the right to withhold data. Participants can have natural concern of their performance during this and they will be reassured that their performance was okay and normal. 
• Dealing with confidentiality:

  If personal details are held then the participants have the right to anonymity in which none of their data will be used and their names will be replaced with numbers etc. During the debriefing they will also be reminded that none of their data will be shared with any other researcher.
• Cost benefit analysis:

  It helps to determine which particular research is ethically correct for the participants and the research itself. 
• Presumptive consent:

  It is the receiving of consent from a similar group rather than the actual group who will be taking part in the experiment. 
• Prior general consent:

  Participants give consent to take part in multiple studies and at the end they will only participate in one of them stated.  
• Retrospective consent: 

  Participants give consent once taken part in the study as they may have been deceived or unaware that they are part of a study.