Issues and Debates - Ethical Implications / Social Sensitivity of research

Question 1

What are ethical guidelines?

Answer 1

• Ethical guidelines were introduced in the 1960s to protect the rights of research participants involved in research whilst they are doing the research.
  According to the BPS, the following areas are of ethical concern:
• Informed consent
• Confidentiality and anonymity of participant information
• Psychological harm (solved by debriefing)
• Right to withdraw
• Deception

Question 2

What are ethical implications?

Answer 2

• Ethical implications are the impact/consequences of the research on the rights of (other) people.
• This includes how the findings are communicated to the public (represented in the media), and how the findings are used e.g. influencing public policy and the perception of particular groups in society.

Question 3

What is socially sensitive research?

Answer 3

• Socially sensitive research refers to studies that are controversial or that have potential consequences or implications for either the participants themselves or those represented by the study.
• Researchers should have an awareness of the potential ethical issues and implications of their research and put in place strategies to deal with (counter) them.
• It’s a dilemma for psychologists either to shy away from research because it is socially sensitive or to feel socially responsible to carry it out.

Question 4

Examples of socially sensitive research - Attachment

Answer 4

Research on caregiver-infant interactions – suggests that children may be disadvantaged by particular child-rearing practices. In particular, mothers who return to work shortly after a child is born restrict the opportunities for achieving interactional synchrony, which has been found to be important in developing caregiver-infant attachment. This has direct implications for mothers as it could create guilt in those who need to return to work soon after the birth of their child.

Research on the role of fathers - the claim that children without fathers are no different from those with fathers suggests that the father’s role is secondary. This could suggest that fathers do not play a significant role in their children’s lives. This could create distress for fathers and may even lead to reduced rights for fathers in legal proceedings and wider society

Question 5

Examples of socially sensitive research - Burt and Bowlby

Answer 5

Burt -
- Influential in the 11+ examination in the UK, which was used to determine whether children had a secondary modern education or went to study at a grammar school (a decision that impacts their life choices subsequently) and Burt’s views were based on the evidence he produced that intelligence was genetic, citing studies of twins that showed a heritability coefficient of 0.77 (Burt 1955)
- Discrepancies in his data later revealed that Burt had made much of it up, as well as inventing two research assistants and he was publicly discredited, and the 11+ and the idea that children should be separated on the basis of their natural intelligence remained for a good few years after and still lingers in some counties
- Any research regarding intelligence and genetics is considered hugely socially sensitive following the Hadow Report that Burt released

Bowlby:
- Research into attachment and maternal deprivation saw him become an adviser for the WHO in the 1950s, and Bowlby’s argument that the mother love in infancy is as important for mental health as vitamins are for physical health influenced the way that at least one generation of children were raised
- It may have also influenced the UK government’s decision not offer free childcare places to children under 5 (despite this being typical of other European countries) and Bowlby’s work may also have had an indirect effect on the legal norm that mothers are granted custody of the children in divorce and separation cases (whereas it was previously invariably given to fathers)

Question 6

The concerns of socially sensitive research

Answer 6

Sieber and Stanley -
- Identified 4 areas of concern when conducting research which could have ethical implications / social sensitivity -
1) Research question - what are they asking, and could this damage a specific group?
2) Methodology - how are they testing it, are they being aware of the confidentiality and anonymity of the participants, and if the researcher should have to maintain confidentiality if a participant admits to a crime etc
3) Interpretation of findings - how are they viewed, how can the findings be applied to wider society?
4) Institutional context of the research - what is happening in wider society, who is funding the research and how the data will be used e.g. is a private drug company going to use the results correctly?

Question 7

Examples of socially sensitive / ethical implications of research

Answer 7

1) Milgram - socially sensitive for showing the evil of people, ethical implications of psychological harm and positive implications of understanding regimes like Hitler
2) Loftus - research on EWT is socially sensitive for undermining victims / exposing police, ethical implications for preventing victims coming forward for fear of not being believed, and positive implications of understanding how to interrogate in order to prevent this
3) Biological explanations of mental illness - socially sensitive and ethical implications for making men less likely to come forward (suggests women’s hormones make them more susceptible) and worries people unnecessarily, but positive implications for developing treatment
4) Kohlberg’s theory of moral development - socially sensitive by suggesting women are less moral, ethical implications of preventing women from authority positions for being less moral and positive implications for understanding moral development processes

Question 8

Evaluation of social sensitivity / ethical implication research - strengths

Answer 8

1) It has been argued that studies of underrepresented groups and issues may promote a greater sensitivity and understanding of these - this can help to reduce prejudice and encourage acceptance and in addition, socially sensitive research has benefited society e.g. research into the unreliability of the EWT has reduced the risk of miscarriages of justice within the legal system and this suggests that socially sensitive research may play a valuable role in society

2) The solution is not to avoid socially sensitive research e.g. avoid research on race, homosexuality, forensics, addiction etc because the findings may have negative consequences for the participants, the section of society they represent or for the whole society - however, this is not a responsible approach to science, by avoiding controversial topics simply because they are too controversial, is an avoidance of responsibility and therefore psychologists have a duty to conduct such research - it is necessary, but not always ethical

3) Sieber and Stanley warn that the way in which research questions are asked and investigated may influence the way in which findings are interpreted and for example, research into ‘alternative relationships’ has been guilty of a form of heteoreseuxal bias - homosexual relationships have been compared and judged against heterosexual norms and this suggests that investigators must approach their research with an open mind and be prepared to have their perceptions challenged if they are to avoid misrepresenting minority groups
- Acknowledgement of researcher bias

Question 9

Evaluation of social sensitivity / ethical implications - weaknesses

Answer 9

1) Psychologists attempt to deal with ethical issues in research by developing ethical guidelines for conducting them - these may protect the immediate needs of the participants, but may not deal with the possible ways in which research may inflict harm on a group of people or sections of society - for example, present guidelines do not include asking researchers what the effect of their study may have on society or how it will be used by others
- As there is increased potential for more indirect impact on a participant’s family, co workers or even the group that they represent with socially sensitive research, it does not seem sufficient to simply safeguard the interests of the individual in the research - there must also be some consideration of the likely impact of the research on the larger group of which the participant is a member

2) Research that carries potential ethical implications, or is socially sensitive, may be subject to scrutiny by an ethical committee, and it is their job to weigh the potential costs and benefits of the research, but some of the social consequences of research involving vulnerable groups may be difficult to anticipate, such as how findings may be misinterpreted or applied in ways that perpetuate prejudice and discrimination of certain groups that were not originally intended (e.g. stereotyping of black people due to IQ tests) and as such, assessments of the worth of such research are invariably subjective, and the real impact of the research can only ever be known once it has been made public