Ethical considerations.ppt

Ethical considerationsBy Mr Daniel Hansson Ethical issueslAn ethical consideration is a consideration of what is acceptable to do in a study. Researchers always have to balance between what they want to find out and the rights of participants.Ethical guidelineslDifferent professional organisations of psychologists have drawn up different set of guidelines or principles. Examples are American Psychological Association (APA) and British Psychological Society (BPS)Common ethical considerationslInformed consentlUse of deceptionlProtection from harmlThe right to withdrawlConfidentialitylPrivacylDebriefingTasklCheck what ethical considerations that was followed in your experimentInformed consentlParticipants are formally asked to indicate their agreement to participatelThey should be informed on the purpose of the experiment and their rightsInformed consentlParticipants might still not understand what they have let themselves intolMay affect participants behaviour in the studylPresumptive consent can be given, i.e. asking a group of people whether they feel that the study is acceptableDeceptionlWhen the participant is deceived of the true aims of a studylIs sometimes necessary because otherwise participants might alter their behaviour to fit experimenters´ expectationslDeception prevents participants to give informed consent. Participants might not want to participate in the futureDeceptionlThere should be strong scientific or medical justification for deceptionlCosts should be weighed against benefitslParticipants may feel embarrassed or have lowered self esteemThe right to withdrawlParticipants have the right to withdraw at any time during the studylParticipants may feel they should not withdraw because it will spoil the studyProtection from harmlAvoid any situation that may cause a participant to experience psychological or physical damageConfidentialitylResearchers should not record the real names of any participants, they should use numbers of false namesPrivacylDo not observe anyone without their informed consent unless in a public spacelNot always acceptable to observe in a public space, e.g. lovers on a park benchDebriefinglParticipants are informed of the true nature of the study after the research has taken placelThe aim of debriefing is to restore the participant to the state she was in at the start of the experimentEthics assignmentlAssess how ethical your experiment was. Give the study a score from 1 (very unethical) to 10 (very ethical)。