Ethical considerations

• Consent

  Participants should give informed consent
• Withdrawal

  Participants have the right to withdraw from research (and, indeed to withdraw their data from a study)
• Deception

  Researchers should avoid deceiving participants wherever possible
• Protection from harm

  Participants should be protected from physical and psychological harm
• Confidentiality

  Data should be kept confidential
• Debriefing

  Participants should receive a debrief so that they leave the research in the same state of mind as when they arrived
• Benefits from ethical research

  • It avoids participants from leaving the study in a different (worse) state than when they entered it
  • It makes replication of the study possible in order to see if the same results would be obtained again (demonstrating that a consistent effect has been observed)
  • It enhances the reputation of psychology as an academic discipline
  • Researchers are likely to get other participants for psychological research in the future if they can see that participants are treated well
• Drawbacks from ethical research

  • Placing limits on the sort of research carried out (preventing research that might be really worthwhile from being done)
  • Reducing the validity of research if participants know the aim of a study (as this can lead to them not behaving how they normally would)
  • Sampling bias can be a problem if participants are able to withdraw (e.g. you get left with a sample that isn't as representative as it could be)
  • Insisting on participants being confidential could silence them and prevent them from having people know that a particular result in the study related to them