ethical costs of conducting research

Question 1

intro

Answer 1

There are those who argue that psychological research that benefits many people, outweighs the ethical costs to individual participants or even society, while others argue that psychological research that has any ethical cost to the participants is never justified.

However this is far too simplistic view. in reality whilst both sides can agree that psychological research has ethical costs as well as benefits, the disagreement is about the subjective degree of these costs and benefits

Question 2

structure

Answer 2

intro - what is the controversy
3 diff arguments
-individual participants
-potentially negative consequences for society
-risk management techniques used by psychologists

Question 3

Milgram AO3 example for risk management techniques

Answer 3

Milgram predicted that between 1-3% of people would carry on until end ox experiment so proposed no ethical issue. Actually 65% made it to the end of shock generator and participants then experienced psychological stress.

Question 4

AO1 for risk management

Answer 4

An ethics committee may make recommendations and provide decisions based on proposals however researchers may write proposals in a way that minimises ethical issues (to downplay issues) to ensure their research is approved.
Need to weigh out costs vs benefits as some research is important- however this could just be a way of legitimising unethical practice.

Question 5

conclusion risk management techniques:
-Do researchers set out to conduct unethical research from the outset?
-Are the current risk management techniques enough to avoid unethical research being conducted?

Answer 5

1- generally unethical research is not planned, however deception is the most common ethical guideline broken in psychological research as it is necessary to ensure that people act naturally withinnthe research- which they cannot do if they know aim of study. eg Milgram gave false aim of memory and punishment to collect natural behaviour instead of test of obedience true aim.

2- The current techniques are not enough to completely avoid unethical research, however it is counterproductive for psychology to be too strict with ethics- some leeway to allow for certain results - mainly deception. Pushing boundaries of deception has been beneficial for society, however enforcement of a debrief helps us minimise risk of harm to participants.

Question 6

individual ps: what are some of the costs experienced by an individual taking part in unethical research

Answer 6

-breach of confidentiality
-lack of privacy
-deception
-lack of fully informed consent
-no right to withdraw
-psychologiocal/phycial harm / trauma

Question 7

individual ps study

Answer 7

Raine. participants kept off medication before experiment= this could have caused physical or psychological harm. also there was a lack of informed consent to what the study entailed.
however they were benefitted somewhat as they could try to use the findings in court case to prove not guilty.

Question 8

mini conclusion of indidvual participants

Answer 8

Researchers can’t always anticipate harm caused to participant, may not be displayed until after the study and participant may hide any harm they have been caused.
Research can not always be conducted successfully without some breach of guidelines eg deception=in order to collect natural behaviour from participant, but it is stilll important that methods of mitigation are followed such as debrief, even though the cost to individual cannot always be rectified.
Participnts should leave study in the same condition as they entered it, however if this does not stay true we can question whether the cost outweighs the benefit.

Question 9

Outline of negative consequences to society argument

Answer 9

One ethical cost if research is that there can be negative consequences from the research on society. some research conducted can be considered as socially sensitive- this is when findings have negative consequences for the groups in society that the findings represent.

Question 10

example of negative consequences to society and how it is socially sensitive

Answer 10

bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation. it is crucial that children have mother present during early years otherwise it causes emotional issues later on in life. the relationship that a child has with parents represents and acts as a mold for future relayiosnjops.

this is socially sensitive as mothers may be treated negatively if they decide to return to work and/or send child to daycare- and could be seen as a ‘bad mother’ based on bowlbys theory.

Question 11

Counter for example of negative consequence to society

Answer 11

however what we have learnt about the impacts of maternal deprivation has important implications for reducing separations from children eg long term hospital stays and or prison sentences- child visitation should be seen as a priority.

Question 12

mini conclusion for negative consequences to society

Answer 12

so socially sensitive research can be an ethical cost of research due to the potential negative impact it can have on groups in society. but without it we would have a limited understanding of many areas of human behaviour. so it is the responsibility of the researcher to ensure that their findings are reported responsibly- and consideration is given to the potential negative impact of their work.

Question 13

overall conclusion

Answer 13

For the progression of psychology and understanding of human behaviour, research will have some ethical breaches.
Through cost benefit analysis we can decide whether the knowledge learnt from sduies is worth the harm that may be caused to p. Although it is difficult to anticipate the harm at times this can be used to limit amount of unethical research conducted, but ethical guidelines are not enforced by law and so some may slip through the net.
We must be wary of the harm caused and balance this with the knowledge and awareness gained.