Assess whether research into attachment can be considered ethical. (8)

Question 1

Ainsworth’s the strange situation is carried out over a series of stages including leaving the child with a stranger and leaving the child alone.

Answer 1

Securely attached children got distressed when they were left alone in Ainsworth’s study, which can be considered unethical as it does not protect the participant.

Question 2

O’Connor et al. (2013) sent letters to the parents asking if their children could participate in the study on social learning, parenting and attachment.

Answer 2

O’Connor et al. (2013) gained informed consent as the letter gave full details about the study on social learning theory, parenting and attachment, and they only used the children of those parents who replied, therefore it is ethical.

Question 3

Van iJzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988) carried out a meta- analysis using 32 studies that had previously been carried out.

Answer 3

Van iJzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988) can be considered ethical as it was a meta-analysis so no new children were put under the distress of the strange situation.

Question 4

Research may be ethnographic where the researcher gives detailed accounts of child development within a culture through being part of that culture over a period of time.

Answer 4

Ethnographic research may be deemed unethical as it can be seen as intrusive by the participants, especially if researchers are expressing their own beliefs about children’s development, which may be culturally bound.