Ethical issues in psychological research

Question 1

what is the guide used to help psychologists when doing an investigation?

Answer 1

BPS Code of Human Research Ethics

Question 2

what are the 4 principles in the BPS guides?

Answer 2

1. respect for the autonomy, privacy and dignity of individuals and communities,
2. scientific integrity
3. social responsibility
4. maximising benefit and minimising harm

Question 3

elaborate on “respect for the autonomy, privacy and dignity of individuals and communities.”

Answer 3

this means that researchers have a moral duty of care to respect participants individual and cultural differences . They need to respect the person as a whole. In this principle, psychologists should seek to inform participants of the nature of the study and offer them the right to quit or right to withdraw at any point. They should also protect the privacy and safeguard the details of the participants.

Question 4

elaborate on “scientific integrity”

Answer 4

in this principle psychologists are duty-bound to conduct scientific, well designed research and not claim any misleading findings such as false results.

Question 5

elaborate on “social responsibility”

Answer 5

this means that psychologists are duty-bound to produce beneficial findings that can be used by communities and that offer value to organisations.

Question 6

elaborate on “maximising benefit and minimising harm “

Answer 6

this means that participants should not be placed in any situation that they would not normally encounter, however, if the benefit of the research outweighs the cost to participants, researchers should minimise the risk of harm as much as possible.

Question 7

what does informed consent mean? what does it refer to etc.

Answer 7

this is when participants are given a consent form and information that details what will be expected of them throughout the study, the aims of the research, what will be done with the findings and clear guidance on how to withdraw if they no longer wish to participate.

Question 8

what does deception mean? what does it refer to etc

Answer 8

this involves misleading or lying to participants about the nature of the investigation. This violates a participants ability to give informed consent so should be avoided. this is technically tricking the participant by not providing any information, providing little information or providing the wrong information, in order to avoid harm to the participants a debrief takes place where the whole truth is disclosed to minimise harm to the participants.

Question 9

what does confidentiality mean? what does it refer to etc

Answer 9

this means not disclosing the private information or the identity of the participant. Participants should not be identified by the research and their information should be kept private and later destroyed after some time depending on the agreement with the participant.

Question 10

what does the right to withdraw mean? what does it refer to?

Answer 10

this means that the participants should be made aware that they have every right to withdraw from the research/ study at any point. A participant should never be offered an incentive such as money to forgo their right to withdraw.

Question 11

what does protection of participants refers to?

Answer 11

it refers to the guidelines that participants should always be protected from physical and psychological harm.