Lecture 23- Ethics, Sampling and Reflexivity Flashcards
What Experiment was used in class to think about the concept of ethics?
The Sandford prison experiment
Who was most distressed in the BBC reenactment of the Stanford prison experiment?
It was actually the guards who were most uncomfortable in their role.
The prisoner’s banded together and rebelled.
From an ethics standpoint what was different between he original Stanford prison experiment and the BBC study?
- In BBC study there was ethical board: making sure it didn’t go too far.
- Zimbardo was the prison superintendent in the original study and had sole control of situation
- The BBC study was also televised which might have effected what went on as opposed to the Stanford experiment
What is the quantative view of ethics in regard to participant involvement?
Subjects hold information to be gathered by researchers- they are subjected to research
What is the qualitative view of ethics in regard to participant involvement?
Participants should be fully invovled in the experiment. You are doing the research with them not on them
What are some practical implications of having participants and maintaining ethic standards?
- Require protections of participants (if the research is distressing either in a physical sense or mental sense then there needs to be precautions in place to minimize stress on the participant).
- Need ethics committee as final check point
- Coresearchers need ethics training also as what they do reflects on you
How were ethical principles founded?
Through unethical experimentation e.g. Standford prison experiment (sparked debate)
What are 3 ethical principles?
- Harm
- Deception
- Racial prejudice
Describe cultural sensitivity as a standard for ethics…
- Western and white= the norm (ethnocentrism). Therefore contemporary research privileges Western ways of knowing. Ethical research challenges this way of thinking
- It also encourages participants to identify their own ethnicities and to list more than one (if applicable). Qualitative researchers are encouraged to reflect on their own ethnicities (reflexivity) and if this not possible communicate with people that know the culture well (community liaison).
- It’s not just about ticking boxes and saying you consulted with people you actually need to behave in a culturally acceptable way
What has the introduction of ethics and ethics committees meant (i.e. what is a consequence)?
Some unethical studies have had the ‘last word’ as they haven’t been able to be replicated
What are the 4 core ethical principles of psychological research?
- Cultural sensitivity
- Informed consent
- Protection from harm
- Confidentiality
What does the idea of individuals being able to select multiple ethnicities to identify with directly contrast with?
The idea of ethnocentrism
How do you be sensitive to culture in interviews?
- Semi structured interviews are often emotional and surprising.
- Interviewers need the ability to build rapport and think on their feet
- They also sometimes need to repair damage be more than just a neutral listener
What does it mean to be a neutral listener? Is this a good thing/ what does it mean from a culturally sensitivity standpoint?
- Can’t just say yes or no and hmm along
- If you do this you lose your sensitivity as a person people might feel like you are not really listening to them just giving generic responses
- You want to talk in a way that invites elaboration not shuts it down
Should you attempt to fill all silence in an interview?
- No.
- When you do this it can prevent the person having time to formulate their thoughts and answer truthfully. They may feel rushed
Should a participant be able to terminate an interview at any time?
Yes
What are the two parts to informed consent?
- Being informed
- Getting consent
What are three ways you can get consent? In what situations would each be approriate?
- Signed (consent form)
- Proxy (signed on behalf of someone else when the person is not competent)
- Passive consent (not refusing and playing along i.e. a child)
How can the ‘informing’ part of informed consent present issues?
What counts as being ‘informed’?
If have language barrier is it informed consent? Do they actually understand
Automatically ticking the terms + conditions, is that informed consent?
In qualitive research what are some other aspects of informed consent?
- Seeking permission to record interviews (i.e. focus group)
- Explaining how data might be used (quotes)
- Provide what questions they will have to answer
What did Sommer and Bohns (2018) show about informed consent?
- There was an experiencer group that were asked to unlock and hand their phones before an experiment begun
- And a control group which had to predict whether they would hand their phones over?
- Most participants handed their phones over without much resistance despite the forecaster group saying this was crazy
- This shows that in experiments compliance is high. People blindly follow and trust experimenters (white coat effect) therefore ethics are really important
In what two cases is deception never used?
- With children
- In qualitative research
Why is deception sometimes important in experimental research?
When awareness reduces the effect displayed. Still only used when there is no alternative though
What is a requirement after using deception?
-Must debrief by telling participants about the deception and offering sources of help
What are two important practices of confidentiality?
- Access of data (only researchers + participant)
- Removal of identifiers (names + places) from transcripts
Why is removing identifiers sometimes a challenge in qualitative research?
Need enough information to support your findings i.e quotes but in doing this can sometimes reveal aspects of identity
What are some dilemmas of confidentiality?
- Are focus groups confidential (other participants and can go and talk about things: this is something you have no control over)
- How long do researchers store data?
- If findings are applicable to other studies can data be handed over to those researchers: would you need permission to do this?
- Participants have right to delete data?
What is reflexivity?
Researchers awareness about themselves and how it biases their view of findings + the entire research approach they use
In qualitative research how is reflexivity viewed?
- Qualitative psychologists are “human instruments” studying humans. We create knowledge by drawing it out of participants so need to be careful that we are not drawing out information specific to our biases/ views
- Researchers and research is embedded in the world and so the environment you here the narrative in has an influence
How does approach to sampling differ between qualitative and quantative research?
- Quantative= lead by statistical power, having enough participants to produce a significant result. Must be random.
- Qualitative= led by depth. Need enough to be informative.
How does approach to sampling differ between qualitative and quantative research?
- Quantative= lead by statistical power, having enough participants to produce a significant result. Must be random.
- Qualitative= led by depth. Need enough to be informative.
In qualitative research purposeful sampling can involve….
- Some common experience
- Maximum variation in experience
- Snowball sampling (where ask participant if they know anyone else who would want to participant)
