Ethics

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Ethics

Ethics is a very important and controversial topic in psychology - participants must consent to all that they could be subjected to and sometimes animal subject must be used instead.

Ethics in psychology

Today, scientists agree that good research is ethical in nature and is guided by a basic respect for human dignity and safety.
But this has not always been the case.
Modern researchers must show that the research they perform is ethically sound.
Any experiment involving the participation of human subjects is governed by extensive, strict guidelines designed to make sure that the experiment does not result in harm.

Deception

While the informed consent form should be as honest as possible, sometimes deception is necessary to prevent participants’ knowledge of the exact research question from affecting the results of the study.
Deception involves purposely misleading experiment participants to maintain the integrity of the experiment, but not to the point where the deception could be considered harmful.
In cases where deception is involved, participants must receive a full debriefing upon conclusion of the study.

Animal studies

Many psychologists conduct research involving animal subjects.
Often, these researchers use rodents as the subjects of their experiments.
This does not mean that animal researchers are immune to ethical concerns. The humane and ethical treatment of animal research subjects is a critical aspect of this type of research.
Researchers must design their experiments to minimise any pain or distress experienced by animals serving as research subjects.

Code of Ethics

Researchers must follow a code of ethics, making sure that participants are treated with respect and not harmed.

Preventing harm

Researchers must follow a code of ethics.
The purpose of these is to make sure that participants are treated with respect and not harmed.
The British Psychology Society ethical guideline states that ‘Investigators have a primary responsibility to protect participants from physical and mental harm during the investigation’.
The research should not put participants under unreasonable stress, or traumatise or humiliate them.

Preventing harm balance

But no investigation is risk free; the guiding principle is that risks should be no greater than the risks participants are exposed to in their normal lifestyles. Participants should be encouraged to contact the investigator after the research if they have any worries or concerns. The investigator has a responsibility to detect and remove any negative consequences of the research.

Participant data

Participant data also needs to be handled carefully. Their results should be kept securely, and any publication must preserve their anonymity (for example, not publishing participant names).

British Psychological Society

In the UK, the British Psychological Society (BPS) provides an ethical code of conduct.
This is the professional body for all types of psychologist, including psychology researchers.

Applying Ethical Standards in Research

When designing the methodology of their study, researchers must follow ethical procedures such as briefing and debriefing.

Ethical design

Studies must be designed in such a way that they will not risk physical or psychological harm to participants beyond the risks that people experience in everyday life.
The mild stress that comes with doing tasks such as memory tests are acceptable because they are similar to the stresses of school or university.
Researchers usually ask permission to run a study by proposing it to their organisation’s ethics board.

Withdrawal

Participants are allowed to stop and withdraw during the study any time they wish and for any reason, and must be aware of this fact.

Debriefing

At the end of the study, participants are debriefed.
At this point, they may be given more information about the study, including the hypothesis, and asked if they have any questions.

Late withdrawal

A participant may decide at a later point that they wish to withdraw their consent.
They must be told that they have a right to withdraw at any point, and should be given contact details so that they can withdraw retrospectively.
If they do so, their data must be deleted.

Confidentiality

Participants in research must be anonymous and no personal details should be included in the study which would enable them to be identified.
Any personal data collected must be securely stored and destroyed when no longer required as specified by Data Protection Act 2018 (GDPR).
Protection from harm involves confidentiality.

Confidentiality - personal questions

Participants may be asked personal questions. They must be told that there is no need to answer these questions and, if they do that their answers will be treated in confidence. That is, they should remain anonymous.
Invasion of privacy can result in unease or distress.
But certain laws, for example child protection, may overrule this, as a teacher has a duty to disclose anything related to child protection to the relevant authorities and cannot promise confidentiality to a student.