Issues and Debates: Ethical Implications

Question 1

Ethical Implications

Answer 1

• As researchers, we do not always have control over how our results will be interpreted by the media and public. This means that we have to be sensitive to how they may be misinterpreted.
• These issues are known as the wider ethical implications.

Question 2

Social Sensitivity

Answer 2

• Psychologists must be careful when investigating taboo subjects. As, even if they are correct, the broader ramifications might be dangerous to individual groups or society as a whole.
• However, you could argue that such research is exactly what psychology is for. Psychologists are scientists and should go where the data leads them and not where society wants them to go.

Question 3

Ethical issues in socially sensitive research

Answer 3

Seiber and Stanley (1988) identified a number of concerns to which researchers should be mindful:
1. Implications.
2. Uses/Public policy – how will the research be used by others?
3. Validity of the research

Question 4

Benefits of socially sensitive research

Answer 4

• Despite the ethical implications associated with research into the controversial, Scarr (1988) argues that studying underrepresented groups is likely to reduce prejudice.
• If you don’t feel able to study a group or talk about a subject, this could create suspicions concerning that group or topic.

Question 5

Framing the question

Answer 5

• The way you phrase a research question is likely to influence the way the findings are interpreted.

Question 6

Costs and benefits

Answer 6

• It is the job of the ethics committee to weigh up the potential costs against the benefits of the research. The problem is, the assessment of the ‘worth’ of research is entirely subjective.

Question 7

Ethics

Answer 7

• Involving or expressing moral approval or disapproval.
• Conforming to accepted professional standards of conduct.
• ‘Does the end justify the means?’
• A balance must be struck between the interests of the participants and the value of research.
• There is often a conflict between the desires of the researcher, for valid and relevant data, and the needs of the participant, who needs to be treated with respect.
• Basically, ethics is all about what you: Can Do, Can’t Do With Participants
  Consent, informed
  Deception
  Confidentiality
  Debriefing
  Withdrawal
  Protection from harm
• The following is all taken from the Ethical Guidelines produced by the British Psychological Society (2009).