Ethics (human-participants)

• Key Terms

  • Informed Consent:
  • Deception: Avoid demand characteristics
  • Presumptive consent: Would others take part if it was explained to them?, cost-benefit analysis
  • Debriefing:
  • Post-research
  • Leave in same emotional state
  • Withdrawal:
  • Even if paid
  • Observations: Only where public behaviour expected
  • Competence:
  • In expertise
  • Check with colleagues for doubts
  • Confidentiality:
  • No personal information
  • Pseudonyms
  • Protection from harm:
  • Expose no more risk then irl
  • Leave with positive self-perception and experience
  • Risk assessment (identify potential harm)
• Human Ethics

  • Professional Ethics are standards concerning any professional groups practices and conduct
  • Apply to all research contexts with human participants
  • 4 underpinning moral principles: Respect, Competence, Responsibility and Integrity
  • Must ensure public, after research, has confidence in psychology profession and positive perception of psychologists
  • All are treated with respect, their dignity and well-being are always safeguarded
• 4 underpinning moral principles:

  Respect:

  • Privacy standards
  • Confidentiality
  • Informed consent
  • Right of withdrawal
  • Intentional deception only acceptable if
  • Necessary to protect research integrity
  • Disclosed at earliest opportunity
  • Judge acceptability, consider if participants are likely to object when debriefed

  Competence:

  • Maintain high standards in professional work

  Responsibility:

  • To clients, public, and psychological science
  • Protection from harm
  • Debriefing

  Integrity:

  • Honest and accurate findings
  • Acknowledge potential limits
  • Tell misconduct of others to BPS