Ethical issues Flashcards
what are the 4 ethical issues?
•informed consent
•deception
•protection from harm
•privacy and confidentiality
what is informed consent?
making the participants aware of the aims, procedures, their rights (including the right to withdraw) and what the data will be used for so that they can make an informed judgment whether or not they want to take part.
However, this will result in unnatural behaviour.
how do you deal with informed consent?
Participants should be issued with a consent letter or form detailing all relevant information that might affect their decision to participate. Assuming the participant agrees, this is then signed. For investigations involving children under 16, a signature of parental consent is required
what are 3 other ways to gain consent?
•presumptive consent
•prior general consent
•retrospective consent
what is presumptive consent?
rather than getting consent from the participants themselves, a similar group of people are asked if the study is acceptable. if this group agree, then consent of the original participants is ‘presumed’.
what is prior general consent?
participants give their permission to take part in a number different studies- including one that will involve deception. by consenting, participants are effectively consenting to be deceived
what is retrospective consent?
participants are asked for their consent (during debriefing) having already taken part in the study. they may not have been aware of their participants or they may have been subject to deception.
what is deception?
when information is deliberately mislead or withheld from participants, they have not received adequate information when they agreed to take part and have not given informed consent.
it could be justified if the deception does not cause the participants any distress.
what is protection from harm?
as a result of their involvement, participants should not be placed at any more risk than they would be in their daily lives. this includes not making them feel embarrassed, inadequate or distressed. they should be given the right to withdraw at any point.
how to deal with deception and protection from harm: debriefing
•at the end they should be given a full debrief within which they should be made aware of the true aims and investigations and any details that they were not previously supplied with
•they should be told what their data should be used for and must be given the right to withhold their data. this is particularly important if they got retrospective consent.
•they should be reassured that their behaviour was typical or normal, and in extreme cases they should provide counselling
what is privacy and confidentiality?
participants have the right to control information about themselves. this is the right to privacy. if this is invaded then confidentiality should be protected. confidentiality refers to our right to have any personal data protected. the right to privacy extends to the area where the study took place such that institutions or geographical locations are not names.
how to deal with the issue of confidentiality?
•personal details must be protected, however it is more usual to record no personal details (anonymous), they are usually referred to using numbers or initials
•in a case study psychologists often use initials
•in briefing and debriefing participants should be reminded that their data will be protected throught the process
what dictated the ethical issues that must be avoided?
BPS code of ethics
