RM - Ethical issues

Question 1

What is confidentiality?

Answer 1

Concerns the communication of personal information and the trust that the information will be protected.

Question 2

What is deception?

Answer 2

A participant is not told the true aim of the study and thus cannot give truly informed consent.

Question 3

What is informed consent?

Answer 3

Participants must be given comprehensive information concerning the nature and the purpose of the research and their role in it, in order that they can make an informed decision about whether to participate.

Question 4

What is privacy?

Answer 4

A person’s right to control the flow of information about themselves.

Question 5

What is protection from harm?

Answer 5

During a research study, participants should not experience negative physical or psychological effects, such as physical injury, lowered self-esteem or embarrassment.

Question 6

What is the right to withdraw?

Answer 6

Participants can stop participating in a study if they are uncomfortable in any way. This is especially important in cases where it was not possible to give fully informed consent. Participants should also have the right to refuse permission for the researcher to use any data they produced.

Question 7

What is the BPS?

Answer 7

British psychological society

They advise the code of ethics.

Question 8

What are the 4 recent principles from the most recent code of ethics from the BPS?

Answer 8

Respect
Competence
Responsibility
Integrity

Question 9

Explain the principle of respect:

Answer 9

Respect for the dignity and worth of all persons including standards of privacy and confidentiality and informed consent. Intentional deception is only acceptable when it is necessary to protect the integrity of research and when the deception is disclosed to participants at the earliest opportunity.

One way to judge acceptability is to consider whether they are likely to object or show unease when debriefed. They should be aware of the right to withdraw from the research at any time.

Question 10

Explain the principle of competence:

Answer 10

Psychologists should maintain high standards in their professional work.

Question 11

Explain the principle of responsibility:

Answer 11

Psychologists have a responsibility to their clients, to the general public and to the science of psychology. This includes protecting participants from physical and psychological harm as well as debriefing at the conclusion of their participation.

Question 12

Explain the principle of integrity:

Answer 12

Psychologist should be honest and accurate. This includes reporting the findings of any research accurately and acknowledging any potential limitations. It also includes bringing instances of misconduct by other psychologists to the attention of the BPS.

Question 13

What is informed consent from the researchers PoV?

Answer 13

Revealing the true aims of the study - or at least telling the participants what is going to happen. (This however may lead to the participant searching for cues and therefore change their behaviour so the researcher may not want to tell them what is going to happen).

Question 14

What is informed consent from the participants PoV?

Answer 14

They should be told what they will be required to do in the study so that they can make an informed decision about whether they wish to participate. This is a basic human right.

Question 15

What is deception from the researchers PoV?

Answer 15

It can be necessary to deceive participants about the true aims of a study otherwise participants might alter their behaviour and the study could be meaningless.

Question 16

What is deception from the participants PoV?

Answer 16

Unethical.

The researcher should not deceive anyone without good cause. More importantly, deception prevents participants being able to give informed consent as they may agree to participant without really knowing what they have let themselves in for and they might be quite distressed by the experience.

Deception can also lead people to see psychologists as untrustworthy which might further mean that a participant may not want to take part in psychological research in the future.

Question 17

What is the right to withdraw from the researchers PoV?

Answer 17

If participants do leave during a study this will bias the results as the participants who have stayed are likely to be more obedient, or they might be more hardy - leading to a biased sample.

Question 18

What is the right to withdraw from the participants PoV?

Answer 18

It is important as if they begin to feel uncomfortable or distressed they should be able to withdraw. This is especially important if the participant has been deceived about the aims and/or procedures. However, even if they have been full informed, the actual experience of taking part may turn out to be rather different, so they should be able to withdraw.

Sometimes the withdraw is compromised by payment of participants or some other reward so they feel less able to withdraw.

Question 19

What is protection from physical and psychological harm from the researchers PoV?

Answer 19

Studying some of the more important questions in psychology may involve a degree of stress to participants and it is also difficult to predict the outcome of certain procedures so it is therefore difficult to guarantee protection from harm.

Question 20

What is protection from physical and psychological harm from the participants PoV?

Answer 20

Nothing should happen to them during a study that causes harm physically or psychologically. It is considered acceptable if the risk of harm is no greater than a participant would be likely to experience in ordinary life, and if the participants are in the same state after a study as they were before, unless they have give informed consent to be treated otherwise.

Question 21

What is confidentiality from the researchers PoV?

Answer 21

May be difficult to protect confidentiality as the researcher wishes to publish the findings. They may guarantee anonymity but even then it may be obvious who has been involved in the study.

Question 22

What is confidentiality from the participants PoV?

Answer 22

The Data Protection Act makes confidentiality a legal right. It is only acceptable for personal data to be recorded of the data is not made available in a form that identifies the participants.

Question 23

What is privacy from the researchers PoV?

Answer 23

It may be difficult to avoid invasion of privacy when studying participants without their awareness (e.g. in field experiments).

Question 24

What is privacy from the participants PoV?

Answer 24

People do not expect to be observed by others in certain situations (e.g. in their own homes while they might expect this when sitting on a park bench in public).