BPS code of ethics and conduct 2009 Flashcards
What are the four ethical principles in psychology?
- respect
- responsibility
- competence
- integrity
Explain the ethical principle: Respect.
- Being willing to explain the ethics of any study or practice and respecting the dignity of others
What is included in the ethical principle Respect?
- individual differences - avoid unfair practice & prejudice based on these
- privacy and confidentiality - respect persons wishes & keep personal info private
- informed consent - participant must know what they are agreeing to take part in
- self-determination - allowing participants to have power in making their own decisions
Explain the ethical principle: Responsibility.
- Being responsible and taking care of participants and doing no harm
What is included in the ethical principle Responsibility?
- avoiding distress, taking care of participants
- responsible for actions of other professionals acting on any instances of bad practice
- find out about any participants issues that may affect harm being done
- do not offer compensation where possible
- debriefing meaning participants must be told what the study was about and how their results will be used
Explain the ethical principle: Competence
- all research and practice in psychology should be carried out within the researcher’s or psychologist’s ability
What is included in the ethical principle Competence?
- be aware of ethics & ethical implications of what they are proposing to do
- must refer to others who have competence, if they are in any doubt of their own
- should watch for any impairment in their performance and act if anything is identified
- keep up-to-date with knowledge and developments to maintain competence
Explain the ethical principle: Integrity.
- a psychologist must maintain professional boundaries and looks for misconduct in others.
What is included in the ethical principle Integrity?
-covers honesty and accuracy in all dealings with others - includes reporting of results from studies
- conflicts of interest must be explained e.g. if someone acting as a therapist is also doing some research
- should look out for misconduct from others
- deception may sometimes be necessary in the research but this is often solved through a thorough debrief
Explain the ethical guideline: informed consent
- all participants should consent to the study, whatever the research method and whatever the study is about.
- informed consent is part of the ethical principle of respect.
- their consent is of little value if they do not know the true aim of the experiment (i.e. if the real aim has been kept from them), therefore in order for consent to be classed as fully informed, participants must know what the study is about.
- observations may be carried out without consent if the participant is being observed in a public setting where they would expect to be seen by others.
- using children as participants, parents/guardians must give consent as well as the child.
- university students are a special case as many psychology courses require students to take part in studies as part of their course
Assess the ethical guideline: informed consent
- often difficult to get informed consent without affecting the data from a study as participants may change their behaviour if they knew the true aim, meaning the results would not be valid. E.g. in Milgram’s study, participants could not know that the shocks were not real.
- if informed consent cannot be obtained:
- presumptive consent may be gained instead, is where a researcher asks other people (who are not participants) before the study takes place, if they would take part in it and they state that they would.
- prior consent, involves asking people beforehand to volunteer and explain that sometimes deception may be necessary.
- thorough debrief can make a study more ethical as well as informing participants of their right to withdraw, if consent has not been obtained.
Explain the ethical guideline: avoiding deception
- deception in a study can take many forms
- when informed consent is not obtained
- if they are not told the truth about what they have to do
- not telling them what results are expected; how the results will be used or what the roles of other participants are within the study
Assess the ethical guideline: avoiding deception
- sometimes necessary to deceive participants because otherwise their knowledge would affect the results
- if there is deception, then thorough debriefing should take place to help make the study more ethical and participants should be reminded of their right to withdraw
Explain the ethical guideline: giving the right to withdraw
- ppts should be given the right to withdraw, meaning reminding them that they can leave the study at any point and have their data destroyed i.e at the start, periodically throughout and at the end
Assess the ethical guideline: giving the right to withdraw
- this would affect results or may be difficult to do e.g. in a study of obedience, participants have to do as they are told by someone; that won’t work if participants can say they want to leave // children or vulnerable people might feel unable to leave and so should be reminded that they can throughout
Explain the ethical guideline: debriefing participants
Participants are briefed before a study on its purpose and tasks. If full details cannot be given, informed consent may not be fully obtained. In such cases, a thorough debrief must follow immediately, explaining the study, expected results, and individual results. Participants should be informed of their right to withdraw their data and checked for distress or questions to ensure they are not left upset or confused.
Assess the ethical guideline: debriefing participants
- debrief is usually straightforward because the study is over and the participants can be told about it.
- debriefing can be difficult in observations of people in public places because, by the time the observation is over, they will have moved on. If no real personal data is recorded in the observation, it may be considered that a debrief is not needed
Explain the ethical guideline: being competent to run the study
no researcher should try to carry out a study for which they are not competent, including students and all psychologists - if in doubt, the researcher should ask the opinion of a qualified person
competence includes: understanding the implications of the study; knowing the ethical guidelines; getting advice in any area which the researchers does not feel confident; being suitably qualified; adhering to safe practice; knowing where and how to store data
Assess the ethical guideline: being competent to run the study
- there is the problem of not knowing what the results of a study will be and it is hard to assess competence without knowing this
Explain the ethical guideline: protection from harm
- a participant should not be subjected to any more physical or psychological harm than they would expect to experience in every day life.
Assess the ethical guideline: protection from harm
- participant should leave experiment and same psychological and physical state as when they entered it
