ethical issues & social sensitivity Flashcards
what are ethical implications?
Where a researcher considers the impact or consequences that psychological research has on the rights of other people in a wider context
what is ethical sensitivity?
Sieber & Stanley use this term to describe studies where there are potential social consequences for the participants or group of people that the research represents
what is the research question?
the phrasing of a question / questions investigated can cause some social issues due to their influence on our findings
(e.g. ‘heterosexual bias’)
what is the idea of methodology used?
How the actual method of the experiment could have an effect on the participants
- e.g. causing physical of psychological harm due to lack of informed consent
what is the institutional context?
how the findings could have an impact in institutions or where / how the data is going to be used
what is the idea of Interpretation and Application of findings?
how the findings will be perceived by people outside the research
- if it could enforce prejudices or real world policy
Strength of ethical issues
Benefits for groups studied
- 1973 homosexuality was removed from the DMS-5 as a ‘sociopathic personality disorder’
- change came from the Kinsey report which was 5000 interviews about their sexual behaviour (illustrates challenging a sensitive topic)
Real-World application
- policy-makers in the UK rely on scientific research to make decisions for topics such as childcare, education, mental health provision
- there is the Office for National Statistics in the UK to collect research
Weaknesses of ethical issues
Poor research design
- may lead to incorrect results which can cause issues when out in the public eye (prejudices)
- Burt’s (fake) research leading to the creation of the 11+ which had an impact on education for children
