Ethical Considerations

Question 1

What are the ethical considerations in a research investigation?

Answer 1

> Confidentiality
> Voluntary participation
> Withdrawal rights
> Informed consent
> Deception in research
> Debriefing

Question 2

What is confidentiality?

Answer 2

Participants must not be identified by their test results or involvement in the study, and must remain anonymous unless given permission to.

Question 3

What is voluntary participation?

Answer 3

Participants have the right to refuse participation in a study, and no pressure must be used to coerce participants in participating, neither should deception be used to gain participation.

Question 4

What is withdrawal rights?

Answer 4

Participants have the right to leave a study at any stage, regardless of the effects on the results and are allowed to withdraw their results from a study.

Question 5

What is informed consent?

Answer 5

Participants must be told about the nature of the study before they agree to take part. Participants who are too young or too intellectually disabled to give consent must have guardian’s consent on their behalf.

Question 6

What is deception in research?

Answer 6

Deception can only be used if results would be confounded if participants had full knowledge of the study before taking part.

If deception is used, researcher must ensure that participants don’t experience distress (and research stops if this occurs) and that debriefing occurs.

Question 7

What is debriefing?

Answer 7

Where participants are told about the results and conclusion of the study (and the real information of the study if deception is used).

Any false beliefs about the study are corrected, and participants are informed about counselling and how to get it if they need it.