01. Ethics

Question 1

What are ethics?

Answer 1

Society’s rules about what is right and what is wrong.

Question 2

In 2009 British Psychological Society (BPS) published its most recent version of the BPS ‘Code of Ethics and Conduct’. What are the 4 ethical principles?

Answer 2

1. Respect
2. Competence
3. Responsibility
4. Integrity

Question 3

Define respect.

Answer 3

Psychologists must have general respect for dignity of individuals in terms of their cultural and role differences (ethnicity, age, religion, race, sexual orientation) and experience they bring to the research. This respect should maintain the right to privacy and confidentiality for the safety of the individuals concerned. Principle also maintains psychologists seek to informed consent by disclosing the full nature of the research and avoid deception where possible. Participants should be offered the right to withdraw at any point without consequences.

Question 4

Define competence.

Answer 4

Level of professionalism held by psychologist. Maintains researcher awareness of ethical code and if uncertain of research proposal meets principles, they are to seek help from experts. Psychologists should monitor their own knowledge of the area and recognise their limits.

Question 5

Define responsibility.

Answer 5

Responsibility towards-Participants, general public, the profession and to science.
Must ensure research doesn’t harm others or result in misuse. Should consider views of participants and inform them of potential harm and how it shall be safeguarded. This principles reiterates participants right to withdraw and maintains participation should not be incentivised. A debrief should always be given at the conclusion of research.

Question 6

Define integrity.

Answer 6

Psychologists should be honest and fair in all of their work to avoid exploiting others or holding interests which may conflict with the interests of their participants or how the research is likely to be received by the public.

Question 7

What are 6 ethical guidelines?

Answer 7

1. Anonymity
2. Deception
3. Informed Consent
4. Privacy
5. Right to Withdraw
6. Protection from Harm

Question 8

Define anonymity.

Answer 8

Right for personal information to be kept confidential. Due to GDPS it is a legal right. Participant names should not be disclosed and numbers should be used instead of names. Data cannot be traced back to participants.

Ethical issue- Anonymising your data may compromise its quality or credibility.

Question 9

Define deception.

Answer 9

Right for participant to know the true aim of the study. Right for participant to be told what they will be required to do. They should not be misguided.

Ethical issue- This interferes with the ability to have informed consent. Could result in data being withdraw due to embarrassment or being taken advantage of. Deception may be necessary in some cases for an experiment to work.

Question 10

Define informed consent.

Answer 10

Participants should be fully aware of the aims, procedure and implications of the research. Parental consent needs to be gained if participant is under 16.

Ethical issues- Those who are under the influence of drugs or alcohol are not able to give formed consent. In some cases informed consent cannot be attained due to performing an observation in a public space. Telling the truth may stop the research from being able to obtain true measurements.

Question 11

Define privacy.

Answer 11

Right for participant to control the flow of information about themselves. They should not be asked personal questions that they may find intrusive, and the researcher must not obtain personal data that a participant would not voluntarily disclose.

Ethical issues- Boundaries could be broken, lack of privacy, invasive. You can never fully guarantee the protection of someone’s data.

Question 12

Define right to withdraw.

Answer 12

Participants should be offered the opportunity to leave the study at any point without consequence. This means that they can withdraw their data after the study if they choose (up to a negotiated point in time).

Ethical issues- Pressure

Question 13

Define protection from harm.

Answer 13

Right for participants to not experience negative physical or mental side effects.

Ethical issues- Can never guarantee protection from harm 100%, participants must leave the research in the same physical and mental state they started in. Mental distress cannot always be avoided due to subjectivity over what is deemed as anxiety provoking.

Question 14

When do ethical issues occur?

Answer 14

When we have a conflict between the rights and dignity of participants and the research aims. For example, if participants are informed of the aim of a study, this may lead them to change their behaviour and therefore produce invalid results. However, by not revealing the aim, participants could be being deceived and not know what they are signing up for, which may not be morally justifiable.

Question 15

What are the 3 ways to deal with ethical issues?

Answer 15

1. Risk assessment and management
2. Consent and debriefing
3. Research ethics committee (REC)

Question 16

How does risk assessment and management deal with ethical issues?

Answer 16

There can be risk to participants, researchers, others around and animals as participants also need to have their risk managed. There are other risks for example political and risks for society. Risks must be managed by starting taking the highest threat first and consider that before working down to the lowest. Milgram managed risk by asking both colleagues and students separately what they thought would happen.

Question 17

How does consent and debriefing deal with ethical issues?

Answer 17

Seek consent from participants with sufficient information to make a decision.
If true aims of study not revealed, participants should be clear on what participation entails.
After study participants should be debrief and informed on true nature of the study. They should have the opportunity to ask questions and be reassured about any aspects of the study that concern them. Aim is to restore participants to the state they were in at the start of the study.
Participants should also have the right to refuse permission for the researcher to use any data they produced.

Question 18

How does the Research Ethics Committee (REC) deal with ethical issues?

Answer 18

REC is a group of people within a research institution who approve a study before it becomes (professional + lay people). Committee looks at all possible ethical issues and how researchers plan to deal with these, weighing up the value of the research against the possible cost in ethical terms. In ethical terms they are concerned with the dignity, rights and welfare of research participants, the safety of the researcher and legitimate interest of other stakeholders.