A psychologist wants to study helping behaviour in a weekend drama group attended by 14- and 15-year-olds. The group leader gives permission for the research. During a break, the psychologist drops a pile of scripts in a corridor as each young person approaches. An observer, who is out of sight, records whether the young person helps to pick up the scripts within 20 seconds. The young people are not told about the study beforehand. Immediately after each observation, the psychologist explains the real aim, reveals that dropping the scripts was planned and asks whether the young person is willing for the recorded tally to be used. They may ask for it to be deleted. No names or images are recorded, and only a total for the whole group is published.
Evaluate how well the ethical issues in this study have been dealt with.
182 exam-style questions on OCR GCSE Psychology 7.1 Planning Research, covering 7.1.1 Hypotheses, 7.1.2 Variables, 7.1.3 Experimental Designs, 7.1.4 Populations and Sampling, 7.1.5 Ethical issues, and 7.1.6 Dealing with ethical issues and BPS Code. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.