Ethics Flashcards
Define ethics
The correct rules of conduct necessary when carrying out research
What is the BPS (2009) code?
Code of ethics+ conduct—- refers to people involved in psychology including clients+ research participants being treated ethically
Name the 4 ethical principles
Respect
Competence
Responsibility
Integrity
What do we mean by respect
Respect everybody regardless of who they are including cultural+ individual differences (regardless of gender, age , nationality, religion)
- includes privacy, confidentiality, informed consent, right to withdraw
What do we mean by competence
Should be professional + work high standard- awareness of professional ethics+ ethical decisions
- must watch for impairment in performance
- keep up to date regarding knowledge and developments in area
What do we mean by responsibility
- value our responsibility to general public + profession ans scinece of psych to avoid distress
- keep a look out for malpractice+ must monitor participants mental and physical health
- assurance of RTW (does not depend on financial recompense) - debriefing
What do we mean by integrity
Psychologists should be honest, accurate, fair in their interactions with everyone
- conflicts in roles must be identified, clear personal boundaries- between client + participants
- look at misconduct- should be no deceit
What are the 3 types of informed consent
1)Presumptive consent
2) Prior general consent
3) Retrospective consent
What is presumptive consent
Getting consent from similar groups of people and deem it as acceptable for other groups
What is prior general consent
Participants give their permission to take part in numerous studies- including ones involving deception
What is Retrospective consent
Participants are asked for their consent (during debrief) already having taken part in study
How do we deal with deception and protection from harm
- need to give them debrief, RTW + access to support services
- participants reassured about their behaviour + told about true aim of research
How do we deal with confidentiality
Pseudonyms, initials, numbers
What is risk management
1) Ethics Committee review your research to see if it is ethically/morally right
2) risk assessments have to be considered after submitting proposal—- weighs up the balance of long term gains vs short term risks
What are the 4 solutions to manage risks
Avoidance
Mitigation
Transfer
Acceptance
What is avoidance in managing risks
Avoid the risk completely
What is mitigation in managing risks
Reduce the risk as far as possible
What is transfer in managing risks
Transfer the risk e.g. using insurance against risk
What is acceptance in managing risks
Accept and budget the risk
In psychology which solutions do we use to manage risks
Avoidance and mitigation because the others break ethical conduct (avoiding harm)
What are the Research Ethics committee
- group of people within research institution- approve study before it begins
- they are concerned with dignity, rights and welfare of the research participants- the main aim is to see if participants are protected
Name the 7 ethical issues
1) Confidentiality and anonymity
2) Deception
3)Informed consent
4)Right to withdraw
5)Protection from harm
6)privacy
7)Debrief
Define Confidentiality and anonymity
Keep participant private so they are anonymised and not possible to be identifiable
Use number, initiLs, pseudonyms etc
Confidentiality and anonymity- from the participants point of view?
- will be safe
- less likely to show social desirability
- legal right (GDPR)
Confidentiality and anonymity- from the researchers point of view?
Will have honest participants therefore research will be valid and truthful
Deception- from the participants point of view
Can’t give full informed consent
Deception- from the researchers point of view
- can deceive if you debrief
- May want to deceive participants because of demand characteristics (guess aim of study and chnage behaviour)
Define informed consent
The participant is aware of research, duration, purpose, and benefits+ risks, what is expected of them and where the info will be used and that they have the right to withdraw
Can be written+ implied+ parental consent
Informed consent from participants point of view
Allows them to be aware of research and what they will be participating in+ If they are willing- physically and mentally aware without coercion
Informed consent from the researchers point of view
- morally right+ safe
- participant has sufficient knowledge and comprehension
- downfall= demand characteristics
Define right to withdraw
- all participants have RTW at any moment
- can decline to take part and can ask data to be destroyed
Right to withdraw from participants point of view
Right to withdraw is compromised- might not get the money by the end
Right to withdraw from the researchers point of view
Participants can ask for data to be destroyed
- will have a biased and motivated sample as you won’t be able to generalise- results won’t be representative of whole society
Define protection from harm
No participant should be exposed to psychological or physical distress more than their everyday life
- can’t ask questions which may distress them
Protection from harm researchers point of view
Sometimes it’s impossible to estimate the harm an experiment may cause
Define privacy
No participant should be exposed to psychological or physical distress more than their everyday life
- can’t ask questions which may distress them
Define privacy interms of participants
- they have right to control the flow of information about themselves
- invasion of privacy= included as a way of psychological harm- should use pseudonyms
Define privacy from participants point of view
- consider where research takes place- you don’t always need to consider privacy e g. If in public setting
Define debrief
- happens at the end of research
- have to remind them of the aim/ true original aim
- where the info will go/ be used
- right to withdraw
- give them contact details of lead researcher to ask any questions etc.
- access to support services
- HAVE to do if participant is deceived
Debrief in terms of participant
Have to get informed consent- so will be aware of research and its purpose
Debrief in terms of researcher
Allows for deception if we give participant a full and detailed debrief
Deception definition
Experiment should not lead participants as to purpose of research
Need a debrief is deception is necessary to make study valid and reliable
What is a lab experiment?
Experiment where researcher directly manipulates IV and does this in a controlled environment
E.g controlling noise, temp, space
Characteristics of a lab experiment
Controlled environment
Artificial
Standardised procedure
Iv manipulated
Dv measured
Gathers quantitative
High control over EVs
Definition of field experiment
Experiment where researcher directly manipulates the IV and does this in a natural environment
E.g. school, shopping centre etc.
Characteristics of Field experiment
Natural environment
Standardised procedure
IV manipulated
DV measured
Gathers quantitative+ qualitative data
Lack of control over EVs
Define experiment
Scientific procedure undertaken to test hypothesis in order to demonstrate casual relationships
Strengths of lab experiments
-cause and effect can be established
- high degree of control= high level of replication and consistency= high internal reliability
Strengths of field experiments
-higher level of ecological validity
- higher external validity
- reduces demand characteristics
Weaknesses of lab experiments
- lacks ecological validity
- higher chance of demand characteristics
Weaknesses of field experiment
-less control over extraneous variables- lower internal validity
- Lower level of replication
What is independant variable
The variable that is manipulated/ changed. Cause
What is dependant variable
Variable that is measured. Effect
Operationalisation meanning
Making the variable measurable and more specific so that other researchers can replicate study easily
Why do psychologists want to control all variables
If extraneous variables are not controlled the validity of experiment will be questioned and a cause and effect relationship cannot be proven between iv and dv
What do scientists try to investigate
To see if manipulating one variable will result in a change in another variable-
Why do psychologists try to control extraneous variables
So they don’t become confounding variables
What is an experimental group
The group in an experiment that receives the variable being tested (IV)
What is the control group
The group that does not receive any experimental treatment- are treated normally and used as a comparison group- a baseline measure
What does objectivity mean
Factual, unbiased, not affected by personal experience or that of researcher
What does subjectivity mean
The quality of being influenced by personal perspectives, feelings or preferences
What does inter rater reliability mean
Extent to which different assessors will arrive at the same conclusion when diagnosing the same patient— consistency
What does test re test reliability mean
Way of assessing the external reliability of research tool– degree to which test scores remain unchanged when measuring a stable individual characteristic on different occasions
What does internal validity mean (construct validity)?
Asks whether a measure successfully measures the concept it is supposed to accurately
What does internal validity mean (concurrent validity)?
Shows you the extent of the agreement between two measures or assessments taken at the same time—- extent to which psychological measure relates to an existing similar measure and obtains close results
What does external validity mean (ecological)?
Extent to which your study is true to life– where the results of the study can be generalised (to real life setting)
What does mundane realism mean? (Task validity)
Degree to which the materials and procedures involved in experiments are similar to events— that occur in real life
What does predictive validity mean
Ability of a test or other measurement to predict a future outcome
What does generalisability mean
Extent to which the findings of a study can be applicable to other settings/ measure of how useful the results of a study are for a broader group of people or situations
What does population validity mean
Whether you can reasonably generalise the finding from your sample to a larger group of people- the population
What does experimenter effect mean
The tendency on the part of the experimenter/ researcher to influence the participant/interpret data or finding to arrive at the results they are seeking to obtain- typically done subconsciously or consciously
What is demand characteristics
Participants from interpretation of the experiments purpose– try to guess aim of experiment
What is controlling extraneous variables
Any variable that you’re not investigating that can potentially affect the outcome of your research study
What is confounding variables
It is extraneous variables that are not controlled in the study and therefore affect results, acts like another Iv
What does counter balancing mean
A technique used to deal with other effects when using a repeated measures design— e.g. testing group one with one IV first testing group 2 with one IV first and then swapping to see if it makes a difference which way round its done
What does randomisation
Ways pf controlling for the effects of extraneous/ confounding variables
What does order effects mean
Differences in research participants responses that result from the order (1,2,3) in which the experimental materials are presented to them—- occurs here participants responses in the various conditions are affected by the order of conditions to which they were exposed
What does credibility mean
The believability of information– can be based on the background where the experiment comes from
What does experimenter biased
Tendency of a scientist or a researcher to introduce bias into an experiment e.g. manipulating results, choosing participants knowingly
