Week 3: Research Ethics

Question 1

What is ethics?

Answer 1

Set of principles and practices that provide moral guidance in a particular field

Question 2

What are the four moral principles of research ethics?

Answer 2

1. Risk vs Benefits
2. Acting responsibly and with integrity
3. Seeking justice
4. Respecting people’s right and dignity

Question 3

Who is affected by psychological research and must be considered?

Answer 3

1. Research participants
2. Scientific community
3. Society

Question 4

What are the personal risks of psychological research?

Answer 4

• treatment may fail or harm
• procedure may result in harm
• right to privacy may be violated

Question 5

What are the personal benefits of psychological research?

Answer 5

• receive helpful treatment
• learn about psychology
• money or credit for participating

Question 6

How to determine if research is ethical in regards to risk and benefits?

Answer 6

Only ethical if risks are outweighed by benefits

Question 7

What are the scientific risks of psychological research?

Answer 7

• Bad research taking resources from productive research

- Results misinterpreted with harmful consequences

Question 8

What are the scientific benefits of psychological research?

Answer 8

• Advance scientific knowledge

- Contribute to the welfare of society

Question 9

What is the most common risk/benefit scenario in psychological research?

Answer 9

Personal risk with scientific benefit

Question 10

What does the moral principle of acting with responsibility and integrity entail?

Answer 10

• Research if thorough and competent
• Meet professional obligations
• Be truthful

Question 11

What does the moral principle of seeking justice entail?

Answer 11

Treat participants fairly

Question 12

What does the moral principle of respecting people’s rights and dignity entail?

Answer 12

• Respect autonomy
• Use informed consent (obtain and document)
• Respect privacy
• Maintain confidentiality (ideally anonymity)

Question 13

Why is there unavoidable ethical conflict in psychological research?

Answer 13

1. There will always be a conflict between risks and benefits
2. Being completely truthful to participants can make scientifically valid studies difficult

Question 14

How do you deal with unavoidable ethical conflict in a responsible and constructive way?

Answer 14

• thoroughly think through the issues
• minimise risks
• weigh risks against benefits
• be able to explain ethical decisions to others
• get feedback on ethical decisions
• take responsibility for ethical decisions

Question 15

Nuremberg Code

Answer 15

• set of 10 ethical principles for research

- written in 1947 in conjection with Nuremberg trials

Question 16

Declaration of Helsinki

Answer 16

• created by World Medical Council 1964

- required written protocol for human research participants

Question 17

Belmont Report

Answer 17

• guidelines from 1978, developed in response to Tuskegee study
• has three principles (justice, respect for persons, beneficence)

Question 18

What are the three principles of the Belmont Report?

Answer 18

• Justice: distribute risk and benefits fairly across groups at society level
• Respect for persons : need for informed consent
• Beneficence: maximise benefits of research while minimising harm to participants and society

Question 19

What are the three types of research risk levels?

Answer 19

• Exempt research
• Expedited research
• Greater than minimal risk research

Question 20

What is the principle of informed consent?

Answer 20

• obtaining and documenting people’s agreement to participate in the study
• Must inform them of everything that might be reasonably expected to affect their decision
• Do form but also oral

Question 21

When is informed consent not required?

Answer 21

• No harm
• Conducted in the context of people’s ordinary lives

(e.g. counting how many people hold open the door in a public building)

Question 22

What counts as deception in psychological research?

Answer 22

• misinforming participants about the purpose of a study
• using confederates
• using phony equipment
• presenting participants with false performance feedback

Question 23

When does ethics allow for deception?

Answer 23

• befits to study outweigh risks
• participants reasonably expected to be unharmed
• research question cannot be answered without deception
• participants informed of deception asap

Question 24

What is the principle of debriefing?

Answer 24

• Process of informing participants asap of the purpose of the study, revealing any deception and correcting any other misconceptions that may have resulted from participation
• Also return the participant to normal mood, if applicable to study

Question 25

How are risks identified?

Answer 25

- during the design phase - consult with others - must ensure risks include from the participants perspective

Question 26

How are risks in psychological research minimised?

Answer 26

1. Modify design to reduce/eliminate identified risks 2. Use pre-screening 3. Actively maintain confidentiality

Question 27

How is deception in psychological research minimised?

Answer 27

- Describe procedure, risks and benefits during the informed consent process - Generally acceptable to wait until debriefing to reveal the research question.