ETHICAL ISSUES AND WAYS OF DEALING WITH THEM

Question 1

When do ethical issues arise in psychological studies?

Answer 1

Ethical issues arise when a conflict exists between the rights of participants in research studies and the goals of research to produce authentic, valid and worthwhile data. This conflict has implications for the safety and wellbeing of participants.

Question 2

Informed consent is one of the four major ethical issues faced by psychologists. What is informed consent?

Answer 2

Informed consent involves making participants aware of the aims of the research, the procedure, their rights (including the right to withdraw), and also what their data will be used for. Participants should then make an informed judgement whether or not to take part without being coerced or feeling obliged.

Question 3

Why do some researchers choose to not provide their participants with informed consent?

Answer 3

From the researcher’s point of view, asking for informed consent may make the study meaningless because participants’ behaviour will not be ‘natural’ as they know the aims of the study.

Question 4

From a researcher’s point of view the problem with asking for informed consent is that it may spoil the research. Psychologists have therefore tried to address this problem by devising three alternatives. What are these three alternatives?

Answer 4

• Presumptive consent
• Prior general consent
• Retrospective consent

Question 5

What is presumptive consent?

Answer 5

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’.

Question 6

What is prior general consent?

Answer 6

Participants give their permission to take part in a number of different studies, including one that will involve deception. By consenting, participants are effectively consenting to be deceived.

Question 7

What is retrospective consent?

Answer 7

Participants are asked for their consent (during debriefing) having already taken part in the study. They may not have been aware of their participation or they may have been subject to deception.

Question 8

Deception is one of the four major ethical issues faced by psychologists. What is deception?

Answer 8

Deception means deliberately misleading or withholding information from participants at any stage of the investigation. Participants who have not received adequate information when they have agreed to take part cannot be said to have given informed consent.

Question 9

Can deception ever be justified?

Answer 9

There are occasions when deception can be justified. For instance, in the energy drink study it would be legitimate not to tell participants that there is another group drinking a different substance. Deceiving participants in this context can be justified because it does not cause the participant undue stress.

Question 10

Protection from harm is one of the four major ethical issues faced by psychologists. What is protection from harm?

Answer 10

As a result of their involvement, participants should not be placed at any more risk than they would be in their daily lives, and should be protected from physical and psychological harm. The latter includes being made to feel embarrassed, inadequate or being placed under undue stress or pressure. An important feature of protection from harm is participants being reminded of the fact that they have the right to withdraw from the investigation at any point.

Question 11

Privacy and confidentiality is one of the four major ethical issues faced by psychologists. What is privacy and confidentiality?

Answer 11

Participants have the right to control information about themselves. This is the right of privacy. If this is invaded then confidentiality should be protected. Confidentiality refers to our right, enshrined in law under the Data Protection Act, to have any personal data protected.

Question 12

What is the BPS code of ethics?

Answer 12

The BPS code of ethics is a quasi-legal document produced by the British Psychological Society that instructs psychologists in the UK about what behaviour is and is not acceptable when dealing with participants. Researchers have a professional duty to observe these ethical guidelines when conducting research.

Question 13

Which four major principles is the BPS code of ethics built around?

Answer 13

The BPS code of ethics is built around four major principles: respect, competence, responsibility and integrity.

Question 14

What are the four major ethical issues that face participants and researchers in psychology?

Answer 14

• Informed consent
• Deception
• Protection from harm
• Privacy and confidentiality

Question 15

How should psychologists deal with the ethical issue of informed consent?

Answer 15

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.

Question 16

How should psychologists deal with the ethical issue of deception and protection from harm?

Answer 16

At the end of the study, participants should be given a full debrief. Within this, participants should be made aware of the true aims of the investigation and any details that were not supplied during the study (e.g. the existence of other experimental conditions). Participants should also be told what their data will be used for and must be given the right to withhold data if they wish. This is particularly important is retrospective consent is a feature of the study. Finally, participants should be reassured that their behaviour was typical or normal. In extreme cases, if participants have been subject to stress or embarrassment, they may require counselling, which the researcher should provide.

Question 17

How should psychologists deal with the ethical issue of confidentiality?

Answer 17

If personal details are held these must be protected. However, it is more usual to simply record no personal details as this enables anonymity to be maintained. Instead, researchers refer to participants using numbers and initials when writing up the investigation. Finally, it is standard practice that during briefing and debriefing, participants are reminded that their data will be protected throughout the process.

Question 18

In psychology, what is meant by cost-benefit analysis?

Answer 18

It is the responsibility of ethics committees to weigh up the costs and benefits of research proposals to decide whether the research study should go ahead.

Question 19

Cost-benefit analysis is carried out to decide whether the research study should go ahead. What are possible benefits of psychological research?

Answer 19

Benefits might include the value or ground-breaking nature of the research.

Question 20

Cost-benefit analysis is carried out to decide whether the research study should go ahead. What are possible costs of psychological research?

Answer 20

Possible costs may be the damaging effect on individual participants or to the reputation of psychology as a whole.