ethics

• Informed consent


  The permission human participants give prior to taking part in a research study or treatment programme
• Right to withdraw


  Participants should be able to leave the study whenever they wish
• Deception should be avoided, participants should not be deliberately misinformed
• Confidentiality


  Participants and the data gained from them must be kept anonymous unless they give their full consent
• Privacy


  Observation, self-report which involves collecting personal information can invade the privacy of participants
• Debriefing


  Participants should be informed of the real aim of the study (if a false cover was given)
• Ethical issues in animal research

  • Replacement
  • Species and strain
  • Number of animals
  • Pain and distress
  • Housing
• Replacement

  Replace animal experiment with alternatives such as videos from previous studies or computer simulations
• Species and strain


  Choose a species or strain that is least likely to suffer pain or distress
• Number of animals


  Minimum number of animals needed to produce valid and reliable results should be used
• Pain and distress


  Avoid research which results in death, disease, injury, physical or psychological distress or discomfort
• Housing


  Solution and housing can cause distress, reward, deprivation and aversive stimuli should be considered
• Normal feeding and drinking should be maintained
• Reliability and validity


  • Inter-rater reliability
  • Replicability
  • Validity
  • Ecological validity
• Inter-rater reliability


  The extent to which two or more people rating the same event agree on the ratings they give
• Replicability


  The extent to which the procedure of a study can be kept the same whenever the research is repeated
• Validity


  The extent to which a test is actually measuring what it is supposed to measure
• Ecological validity


  The extent to which a study is reflective of real life
• Demand characteristics - Participants are aware that they are being observed and part of a study and change their behaviour