Ethics

• Ethical issues


  A conflict between: What the researcher needs to do in order to conduct useful and meaningful research AND the rights of the participants.
• Valid Consent


  Giving participants enough information so that they can make an informed choice about whether they wish to participate
• Valid Consent - Researcher's POV

  Revealing true aims of study + what is going to happen in the study

  • However - may cause participants to guess aims of study and act in answer in SOCIALLY DESIRABLE WAY
• Valid Consent - Participants' POV


  Even if researchers have obtained valid consent,

  • it does not guarantee that participants really do understand what they have let themselves in for.
  • The researcher must point out any likely benefits or risks of participation
• Deception


  Deliberately misleading or falsely informing participants about the nature of research
• Deception - Researcher's POV


  Sometimes

  • it is necessary to deceive the participants about the true aims of the study, as otherwise participants might alter the behaviour and the study could be meaningless.

  HOWEVER

  • distinction between withholding some details of the research aims to deliberately providing false information
• Deception - Participants' POV


  Unethical - u cannot give valid consent

  Lead people to see psychologists as untrustworthy - may not want to take part in future
• Risk of harm

  Research could induce more than minimal pain through repetitive or prolonged testing.

  Invasive testing (administrating drugs or vigorous physical exercise etc) isn't encountered in everyday life = unethical
• Risk of harm - Researcher's POV

  Difficult to predict the outcome of certain procedures
• Risk of harm - Participants' POV

  Nothing should happen to them during a study that causes harm - many ways harm can be caused

  Acceptable if risk is no greater than ordinary life
• Confidentiality 


  Third parties should not be able to trace information back to individual participants - usually achieved through providing anonymity (using participant numbers not names e.g)
• Confidentiality - Researcher's POV


  Difficult to protect - researcher wishes to publish the findings

  Anonymity - may be obvious
• Confidentiality - Participants' POV


  The data protection act - makes confidentiality a legal right

  • only acceptable for personal data to be recorded if the data are not made available in a form that identifies the participant
• Privacy


  Research that is likely to face this type of risk focuses on socially sensitive topics (e.g. sexuality) - includes potentially sensitive data (e.g. confidential documents)
• Privacy - Researcher's POV


  It may be different to avoid invasion of privacy when studying participants' without their awareness (e.g. - field experiment)
• Privacy - Participants' POV


  People do not expect to be observed by others in certain situations
• Working with vulnerable individuals (incl. children)

  Children under 16, those lacking in mental capacity, people in care, people in custody (prison or probation) + people engaged with legal activities (drug use)
• Working with animals

  Research with non-human species = strictly controlled

  Restrictions on type of animal, care, number of animals required etc - all controlled by ethical guidelines and laws such as the Animals Act (1986)