Ethical Implications Flashcards
What are ethical implications?
The impact of psychological research on the rights of other people in a wider context. May influence policy or the way groups are regarded
What are ethical issues?
Conflict between rights of participants and the way in which researchers carry out a study
What are ethical guidelines?
Created to prevent ethical issues from arising. Ethical implications usually occur after the research is done, so it’s harder to control and prevent
Outline an example of ethical implications in attachment
Maternal deprivation theory suggests mothers shouldn’t be separated from their child so they can’t work.
What is socially sensitive research?
- Sieber and Stanley argue SSR is studies that have potential social consequences for the participants or the group of people represented by the researchers
- e.g. may lead to negative societal opinions about that group
- So, SSR is likely to have ethical implications
Outline the 4 aspects in the scientific research process that raise ethical implications in socially sensitive research
Sieber and Stanley identified these
- The research question
- Methodology
- Institutional context
- Interpretation of findings
Describe the research question as an aspect that raises ethical implications
- Researcher should consider their question carefully, as it could be damaging
- Simply asking a question, e.g. are there racial differences in IQ?, may be damaging to a particular racial group as it appears to add scientific credibility to the prevailing prejudice
Describe the methodology as an aspect that raises ethical implication
- Researchers should consider treatment of the participants, and their rights to confidentiality and privacy
- e.g. if a participant confesses to a crime, should confidentiality be maintained?
Describe the institutional context as an aspect that raises ethical implication
- Researchers may be funded by private institutions who may misuse/misunderstand the data produced
- e.g. Research on drug therapies is funded by pharmaceutical companies who have been accused of selective publication of data. The All Trials Campaign called for all research to be made public
Describe the interpretation of findings as an aspect that raises ethical implication
- Researcher needs to consider how their findings might be interpreted and applied in the real world which may be used for purposes other than the original
- The development of IQ tests by psychologists was used to show the inferiority of certain groups
Outline the 10 ethical issues in socially sensitive research
Sieber and Stanley identified 10 types of ethical issues in SSR
- Privacy
- Confidentiality
- Valid methodology
- Deception
- Informed consent
- Equitable treatment
- Scientific freedom
- Ownership of data
- Values
- Risk/benefit ratio
Describe privacy as an ethical issue in socially sensitive research
- During an investigation, a researcher may extract more information from a participant than they intended to give
- Some research (e.g. AIDS research) may lead to social policies that are an invasion of people’s private lives (e.g. compulsory testing)
Describe confidentiality as an ethical issue in socially sensitive research
- Certain SSR may be specific that the participants may be easily identified (e.g. orphans from X residential home)
- Participants may be less willing to divulge information in the future if confidentiality is breached, future research will then be compromised
Describe valid methodology as an ethical issue in socially sensitive research
- In cases of poor methodology, and invalid findings, the public may not be aware of such issues.
- Therefore, poor studies may shape important social policies that are detriment to groups represented by the research e.g. the poor research on link between vaccinations and ASD
Describe deception as an ethical issue in socially sensitive research
Causing the wider public to believe something, which isn’t true by the findings, which leads to untrue stereotypes e.g. believing women are worse at maths
Describe informed consent as an ethical issue in socially sensitive research
- Participants should be made aware of how participating in the research may affect them
- Certain participants in SSR may not always comprehend what is involved, which questions how informed their consent is
Describe equitable treatment as an ethical issue in socially sensitive research
- All participants should be treated in an equitable manner
- Examples of unjust treatments are publicizing an idea that creates a prejudice against a group, and withholding a treatment which is beneficial from participants so that you can use them as a control group
Describe scientific freedom as an ethical issue in socially sensitive research
- Science shouldn’t be censored, but there should be some monitoring of sensitive research.
- So the researcher should weigh their responsibilities against their rights to do the research
Describe ownership of data as an ethical issue in socially sensitive research
If a party commissions research with their interests in mind (e.g. a political party), there would be some problems with determining ownership
Describe values as an ethical issue in socially sensitive research
- Different psychologists differ in their orientations towards approaches to psychological research.
- Ethical issues may arise if there’s a conflict between the values of the institution
Describe the risk/benefit ratio as an ethical issue in socially sensitive research
- It’s unethical if the costs outweigh the potential/actual benefits.
- However, it isn’t easy to assess costs and benefits accurately and the participants themselves rarely benefit from research
Give evaluation for ethical implications (how does this occur?)
- May arise due to the inadequacy of the current ethical situation as the guidelines that aim to protect the immediate needs of participants, don’t deal with all the ways research may inflict harm on people
- e.g. current ethical guidelines don’t ask researchers to consider how their research might be used by others, as Sieber and Stanley recommended
- Suggesting that the aims of ethical guidelines haven’t permeated into professional practice, leading to ethical implications.
Give evaluation for ethical implications (overcoming these implications)
- Psychologists aim to communicate with the public so research can be distributed to the public openly
- This reduces the likelihood of misuse of data, as psychologists take responsibility for their findings and if leads to discrimination or, as Sieber and Stanley suggest, offer ‘scientific credibility to the prevailing prejudice.’ This is because they’re held morally responsible by the public.
- e.g. The British Psychological Society has a press centre which aims to promote evidence-based research to the media and public.
- This shows that researchers should be supported to publicise their studies in a SS way to overcome ethical implications.
Give evaluation for ethical implications (implications when not addressed)
- If ethical implications in psychology aren’t addressed there may be long-term impacts.
- e.g Burt’s research on the heritability of intelligence, found intelligence to be highly heritable and could be detected by the age of 11.
- However, it was revealed that much of it was fraudulent, including two ‘imaginary’ research assistance. Despite it being publicly discredited, the 11+ test is used in the UK
- This suggests ethical implications needs to be prevented to avoid the misuse of psychological findings that can affect society for many years after the research.
Give evaluation for ethical implications (differing views on this issue)
- There are conflicting views on how to address ethical implications in SSR
- An argument is to avoid SSR as the findings may have negative consequences for the participants, for the section of society they represent, or for whole of society
- But, this would leave psychologists with nothing important to examine. Sieber and Stanley argue that ignoring sensitive research isn’t a responsible approach as avoiding controversial topics is just an avoidance of responsibility
- Therefore, SSR and ethical implications might be unavoidable as psychologists have a duty to study issues that affect modern society
