7.2: Ethical issues Flashcards
Over the course of the six-week treatment, each patient’s mood was monitored every week using a self-report mood scale (where a score of 20 = extremely positive mood and a score of 0 = extremely negative mood).
Each week they also completed a quality of sleep questionnaire which was scored from 10 = excellent sleep to 0 = very poor sleep.
At the end of the study, the researchers correlated each patient’s final mood score with his or her final sleep score.
The results are a scattergram to show the relationship between final mood scores and final sleep scores for 20 patients at the end of therapy, showing a positive correlation.
Outline one way in which the researchers should have dealt with ethical issues in this study (2 marks)
By asking for consent, preferably written and on more than one occasion
A psychologist studying obedience conducted the following experiment.
A confederate (stooge) approached people in the street and instructed them to pick up a piece of litter and put it in a nearby bin. None of the people approached had dropped the litter.
There were two groups in the experiment.
Group A: The confederate (stooge) was dressed in everyday clothing.
Group B: The confederate (stooge) was dressed in a uniform.
The psychologist recorded how many people in each group obeyed the instruction of the confederate (stooge).
Briefly outline one ethical issue that might have arisen in this experiment (2 marks)
One ethical issue in this study is a lack of informed consent, because the researcher did not ask the participants if they wanted to be in the study
