P2 Research Methods - Ethical Issues

Question 1

What are the ethical issues?

Answer 1

• Informed consent
• Deception
• The right to withdraw
• Protection from harm
• Confidentiality
• Privacy

Question 2

What is informed consent?

Answer 2

Participants must be told anything that may affect their willingness to participate

Question 3

How to deal with informed consent?

Answer 3

Participants are asked to formally indicate their agreement by signing a document which contains information on the purpose of the research and their role in

Question 4

Limitations of informed consent:

Answer 4

• If a participant is given full information of the study it may invalidate the purpose of the study
• Even though participants have all the information, it doesn’t mean they fully know what they’re getting into

Question 5

What is deception?

Answer 5

Participants should not be misinformed about what the experiment is about if there are any dangers

Question 6

How to deal with deception?

Answer 6

• The need for deception should be approved by the ethics committee depending what the experiment is.
• Participants should be fully debriefed afterwards

Question 7

Limitations of deception:

Answer 7

• A participant may feel embarrassed or have a low self esteem due to deception
• Cost ( benefit decisions are flawed because they involve subjective judgements and the costs and benefits are not always apparent until after the study.

Question 8

What is the right to withdraw?

Answer 8

At any point in the experiment or study, participants must be free to withdraw, without any penalisation or difficulty

Question 9

How to deal with the right to withdraw?

Answer 9

Participants should be informed at the beginning of the study that they have the right to withdraw

Question 10

Limitations of the right to withdraw:

Answer 10

• Participants may feel like they shouldn’t withdraw else it’ll spoil the study
• In some studies participants are paid or rewarded in some way, so may not feel able to withdraw

Question 11

What is protection from harm?

Answer 11

Risk should be no more than participants expect in everyday life.

Question 12

How to deal with protection from harm?

Answer 12

• Avoid any risks greater than experienced in everyday life
• Stop the study if participants in harm

Question 13

Limitations of protection from harm:

Answer 13

Harm may not appear apparent at the time of the study but be judged later in hindsight

Question 14

What is confidentiality?

Answer 14

All data should be confidential, all participants should be anonymous and unidentifiable unless prior informed consent is given

Question 15

How to deal with confidentiality?

Answer 15

Researchers should not record the names of any participants; they should use numbers and fake names.

Question 16

Limitations of confidentiality:

Answer 16

It’s sometimes possible to work out who the participants are by using information that’s been provided (confidentiality may not be possible)

Question 17

What is privacy?

Answer 17

Participants’ right to privacy must be respected esp. since invasions of privacy may affect well-being and raise confidentiality issues

Question 18

How to deal with privacy?

Answer 18

Do not study anyone without their informed consent unless it’s in a public place and public behaviour

Question 19

Limitations of privacy:

Answer 19

There is no universal agreement about what constitutes as a public place