5. Assess If Research Was Justified In Terms Of Ethical Issues Flashcards
What is the A01 of this debate
-definition of the guideline
-how this ethic was broken/ followed in the study
What is the AO3 of the debate?
-cost vs benefits -judgement
-validity, generalisability, long term vs short term harm, reliability, were applications good
Explain the AO1 principle/ guideline of confidentiality and privacy
-ppts have a right to remain anonymous in publication of the research and confidentiality should be maintained
Explain the AO1 principle/ guideline of informed consent
-this is where the ppts involved in the study consent to taking part in the procedure, having full awareness of what the study’s aim is. This prevents deception from being used. If the child is under 16 years old, parental consent may be given instead
Explain the AO1 principle/ guideline of deception
-this is where the ppts are not told some parts of the study. It is used as it provides highly valid results with the most beneficial application to society, however if deception is used it may cause some stress in the ppts, so a debrief should always be given.
Explain the AO1 principle/ guideline of right to withdraw
-the ppts should be told at the start of the study, throughout the study, and at the end, that they have the right to withdraw from the research, including their data at the end. This means if a ppts begins to feel uncomfortable they will not be forced to carry on the study.
Explain the AO1 principle/ guideline of debrief
-a debrief is where at the end of the study the ppts are given a run down of the whole experiment, and if any deception was used it will be acknowledged here. The ppts can ask any questions they may have
Explain the AO1 principle/ guideline of protection from harm
-the researcher must protect the ppts from both physical harm, and psychological harm, ensuring that they leave the study in the same way that they started. Ppts should be screened for any conditions which may make them more susceptible to suffering harm from the study.
Cognitive topic example- using Case studies for investigating memory- strength and weakness
Strength
-AO1: confidentiality and privacy can be seen with using case studies to study memory. For example HM, was a brain damaged person who had his hippocampus surgically removed in the hope it cured his severe epilepsy. As a result, HM lost his memory and suffered memory loss for the rest of his life. He was studied for many years by psychologists but his name was kept confidential until he died, so he was known as HM
-AO3: this is a strength as it protects the already vulnerable participant from invasion of their privacy, and it protects their family too from being overwhelmed.
Weakness:
-AO1: protection from harm may be breached. For example, HM was studied for over 50 years by many different researchers, which is likely to cause a degree of anxiety and stress. This also causes problems with right to withdraw therefore, as HM couldn’t even remember being studied.
-AO3: this is a weakness as it breaches the responsibility principle and society may lose trust in psychological research in that it is being carried out to benefit society
-AO3 JUDGEMENT: The benefits of carrying out case studies on brain damaged patients is that it’s provided an insight into memory and the importance of the hippocampus, lead to the treatment of dementia villages
Cognitive topic example- using lab experiments to investigate memory- strength and weakness
Strength:
-AO1: lab experiments provide protection from harm for ppts. In Baddeley’s word recall experiment, all ppts were screened for any hearing difficulties by running a hearing test. This ensured any disadvantaged ppts were removed from the study and that the procedure would not cause any harm to the ppts ability to hear.
-AO3: this is a strength as it ensures that all ppts left the study in the same way they started it, meaning they would be happy to volunteer take part in an experiment again.
Weakness:
-AO1: Lab experiments may use deception in order to study IV to full extent. E.g in Baddley’s word experiment, he used deception as he did not tell the ppts there would be a surprise retest after the fourth trial of word recall. This is a fairly mild form of deception but it may still have caused the ppts a small level of anxiety as it was unexpected
-AO3: this is a weakness because ppts may have felt annoyed that there was a surprise retest as they were not told about it, so levels of frustration may have actually affected the accuracy of correct word recall for ppts, possibly changing results.
AO3 JUDGEMENT: Protection from harm is ultimately the most important ethical guideline that should be followed otherwise the public would not volunteer to participate if they were suffering harm, however Baddeley’s use of deception was necessary to test the full extent of long term memory and how it encodes, which did provide application for society
Learning topic example- lab experiment- strength and weakness
Strength:
-AO1: Followed protection from harm in Capafons study lab experiment. Capafons investigated how successful systematic desensitisation was for treating the phobia fear of flying. The ppts were protected from harm because the actual desensitisation process was carried out through simulation, shown on a TV screen whilst the ppt was in a relaxing arm chair, rather than taking the ppts on a real flight.
-AO3: this is a strength as it lowers the risk of any extreme emotional responses occurring in the ppts, allowing them to actually benefit from the desensitisation process, and easily withdraw from the room if it was necessary, which would not be possible if they were on a real flight.
Weakness:
-AO1: Bandura breached protection from harm in his experiments. He found that children aged 3-5yrs were more likely to display aggressive behaviours after being exposed to an aggressive model. They were exposed to a model hitting and punching a bobo doll whilst shouting ‘hit him down’. After the experiment the children were not taught to not show aggressive behaviour, meaning they left the experiment in a different way to how they entered
-AO3: this is a weakness because it means children involved in the experiment may be more likely to continue showing aggressive behaviour in the future which is something that should not be encouraged in young children.
Learning topic example- Watson and Rayner- strength and weakness
Strength:
-AO1: Confidentiality and privacy was adhered to e.g Watson and Rayner experiment. They investigated if they could condition a fear response in a 9 month old baby, and if it would be generalised to other stimuli and how long the conditioning would last. The sample was a 9 month old baby who was given the pseudo name of Little Albert, as his real name was actually Douglas.
-AO3: this is a strength as it protected the baby of his privacy and confidentiality so that in his future he was safe and not invaded by taking part in more psychological studies around classical conditioning
Weakness
-AO1: Protection from harm was breached in Watson and Rayner lab experiment. They successfully conditioned little Albert to fear rats and other white fluffy stimuli like rabbits by striking a 4 foot long metal pole behind his ear. He jumped and fell forward, cried and whimpered and leaned away from the rat. His mother removed Albert from the experiment before the experimenters were able to decondition him to the phobia. This meant he kept this phobia for the rest of his life and suffered a lot of trauma through the study.
-AO3: this is a weakness because Watson and Rayner changed Albert in such a way he suffered psychological harm, but also physical harm through the constant striking of the pole
AO3 JUDGEMENT: Albert suffered a huge amount of harm through taking part in the study, which he couldn’t even consent to himself as it was his mother. However this study provided a huge amount of benefit to society in treating phobias through classical conditioning, which was proven successful and is still being used to this day
AO3 JUDGEMENT:
Bio topic example- using brain scans in Raine- strength and weakness
Strength
-AO1: Follows informed consent e.g Raine et al investigated the brains of murderers who pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity and non murderers to see if there was differences in functioning. The ppts knew they were having a PET scan and had to undergo an FDG injection, and was aware of completing the continuous performance task during the scan.
-AO3: strength as giving informed consent minimises stress levels as there were no surprises in the experiment, and the ppts knew exactly what they were participating in, making it ethical
Weakness
-AO1: Breaching of protection from harm in Raine. Although ppts were aware of the fact they were having an FDG injection, it is still an invasive brain scanning method, causing some levels of anxiety and stress. Also the fact the murderers were restricted from taking their medication for 2 weeks prior to the scan may have caused some harm as symptoms may have reappeared causing pain/ discomfort.
-AO3: this is a weakness as these murderers who pleaded NGRI are already quite vulnerable patients who require a lot of support and medication to stay sane. Having the injection may have been traumatic as well as suffering symptoms making the patients not want to participate in any more studies
AO3 JUDGEMENT: on the whole this was experiment was fairly ethical which makes it justifiable due to the application that resulted from it. Murderers who plead NGRI are likely to have reduced sentencing and receive more appropriate treatment for their behaviour improving their lives
Bio topic example- strength and weakness
Strength:
Weakness:
-AO1:
Social topic example- strength and weakness
Strength:
-AO1: Burger followed the ethical guideline of protection from harm. The 70 ppts went through a 2 step screening process, with over *35 ppts being removed from the study due to anxiety issues*, ensuring they could withstand the procedure. There was a clinical psychologist on hand to step in if it was needed, and the initial shock that the ppts received themselves was only 15V rather than 45V.
-AO3: this is a strength as it ensured ppts did not suffer any ptsd or severe emotional responses to this study, so they left the experiment in the same way that they began it, whilst providing beneficial application to society.
Weakness:
-AO1: Deception was used in Milgram’s obedience experiment in many ways. Firstly when the ppts and confederate had to draw their roles from a container, they were both teacher. The electric shocks after the initial one were not real, with fake screams being heard. That the aim of the study was on word memory
-AO3: this is not ethical as the use of deception meant that ppts were experiencing extreme emotional responses like seizures as well as smiling and nervous laughter, as they did not know they were not actually harming another ppt.
AO3 JUDGEMENT: the use of deception was absolutely necessary so that obedience could be tested to its full extent drawing valid results and conclusions, however Burger proved that deception could still be used but in a more ethical way, protecting the participants from both physical and psychological harm.
