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ETHICAL ISSUES (BPS - British Psychological Society) - Coggle Diagram
ETHICAL ISSUES (BPS - British Psychological Society)
Informed consent
Not always possible to gain informed consent
This is acceptable as long as what happens to the participants is something that could easily happen to them in everyday life
Before the study begins the researcher must outline to the participants what the research is about, and then ask their consent (i.e. permission) to take part
Protection from harm
Researchers must ensure that those taking part in research will not be caused distress
They must be protected from physical and mental harm. This means you must not embarrass, frighten, offend or harm participants
Normally, the risk of harm must be no greater than in ordinary life
How to deal with being protected from harm
Medical supervision
Ask psychological experts to look over procedure to ensure it is not harmful
Confidentiality
Participants, and the data gained from them must be kept anonymous unless they give their full consent
How do you ensure confidentiality?
No names must be used in a research report e.g. Numbers or codes instead of names
Deception
This is where participants are
misled or wrongly informed
about the aims of the research
This is sometimes necessary in order to avoid demand characteristics (i.e. the clues in an experiment which lead participants to think they know what the researcher is looking for)
Confederates: they work for the experimenter (they may be part if the IV or simply help guide the experiment). They are often used to help deceive (but not always) the participant
However, participants must be deceived as little as possible, and any deception must not cause distress
How to deal with deception - Debrief
Participants must be thoroughly debriefed at the end of the study
They must be given a general idea of what the researcher was investigating and why, and their part in the research should be explained
They must be told if they have been deceived and given reasons why
They must be asked if they have any questions and those questions should be answered honestly and as fully as possible
Right to withdraw
Before
After
During
No pressure to continue - always inform that they can withdrawer at any point in the study
How do you ensure informed consent?
Consent form
Should be completed before the experiment
Should include the following:
The purpose of the study
The length of time required of participants
The conditions the participants will be under during the test
Right to withdraw
Further details e.g. Diet
Reassurance of protection from harm e.g. Medical supervision
Requirement of the study e.g. Undertake series of psychological tests
Reassurance about confidentiality of data
What do you do if you can't get consent?
Parental consent
is used for young children
Presumptive consent:
Taking a random sample of the population and introducing them to the research including deception, if they agree that it would be ok then we can generalise from this to the general population