Why ethics decides whether a study can run
- An ethical issue is a way in which a study could harm or wrong the people who take part in it.
- Psychologists are expected to protect participants first, and a study that cannot be run safely should not be run at all.
Informed consent
Definition
Informed consent
Agreeing to take part in a study after being told what it involves, including any risks, so the decision to join is a genuine, free choice.
- Participants should agree to take part only after being told what the study involves, what will be asked of them and any risk it carries.
- Deal with it by giving a written information sheet setting out the task and anything uncomfortable, then asking the participant to sign a consent form before anything begins.
- For anyone under sixteen, obtain consent from a parent, guardian or the school, and still ask the young person themselves whether they are happy to go ahead with the experiment.
Deception
Definition
Deception
Deliberately misleading participants about the aim or nature of a study, or withholding information they would need to give real consent.
- Deception means deliberately misleading participants about the aim or the nature of the study, or leaving out something they would have needed in order to consent properly.
- It is sometimes the only way to see natural behaviour, since telling people exactly what you are watching for usually changes what they do.
Definition
Debriefing
A full explanation given to participants after a study, telling them its true aim, revealing any deception and offering support, so they leave fully informed.
- Deal with it by using the least deception the study can work with, and never misleading anyone about anything that would have changed whether they agreed to take part.
- Debrief everyone at the end, explaining the real aim and why the deception was necessary, and offer them the chance to withdraw their data now that they know the truth.
Example
- You want to see whether pupils will copy a wrong answer that the rest of the group gives confidently.
- You tell the class it is a simple test of eyesight, without saying that the rest of the group have been asked in advance to give the wrong answer.
- Afterwards you explain what was really being tested, check that nobody feels foolish and offer to delete their answers.
Confidentiality
Definition
Confidentiality
Keeping participants' personal data and identity private, so their results cannot be traced back to them.
- Confidentiality means keeping participants' personal details and results private, so that nothing can be traced back to an individual.
- It matters especially in a school study, because a class is small enough that a phrase such as "the Year 11 boy who scored lowest" identifies somebody to everyone who reads it.
- Deal with it by replacing names with code numbers as soon as the data is collected, and storing the list linking the two separately and securely.
- Report your results as group figures such as averages, and leave out any detail specific enough to point at one person.
Right to withdraw
Definition
Right to withdraw
The participant's right to stop taking part at any point, and to have their data removed, without giving a reason or facing any penalty.
- Participants may stop at any point and may ask for their data to be removed afterwards, without giving a reason and without any penalty.
- It matters most where people feel they cannot really leave, such as pupils taking part in a teacher's study during lesson time.
- Deal with it by stating the right clearly at the start, both in the information sheet and out loud, so nobody has to work out whether leaving is allowed.
- Repeat it if the task becomes uncomfortable, and make leaving quiet and easy rather than something a participant has to announce to the room.
Protection of participants
Definition
Protection from harm
Making sure participants are not put at risk of physical or psychological harm, and are left in no worse a state than when they arrived.
- Participants should not be exposed to physical or psychological harm, and psychological harm includes stress, embarrassment and a knock to their confidence.
- The standard is that they leave in no worse a state than they arrived in, judged against ordinary everyday life rather than against how interesting the study is.
- Deal with it by working through the risks beforehand and dropping any part of the procedure that could reasonably distress somebody.
- Stop the study for anyone who becomes upset, and afterwards reassure them that how they behaved was perfectly normal.
Common Mistake
- Do not offer a fix that does not match the issue, because a debrief does nothing for confidentiality and a code number does nothing for consent.
- Do not describe a debrief as something that happens before the study, because it comes afterwards.
- Do not treat a debrief as a licence for any amount of deception, because serious distress cannot be undone by an explanation.
Turning this into marks
- Name the issue and quote the evidence from the study, such as no informed consent because the shoppers were filmed without ever being asked.
- Give a technique that matches that issue plus a sentence on how it protects the participant.
- The mark most often lost comes from listing issues when the question asked how you would deal with them.
Self review
- Explain what informed consent is and one way a researcher obtains it from a Year 9 class.
- How does a debrief deal with deception?
- Give two things a researcher does to protect confidentiality.
- Why is the right to withdraw especially important when a teacher studies their own pupils?
