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2. Ethics in psychological research.pptx
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- 2. • Research ethicsare defined as a system /set of moral principles, or rules of behaviour that is acceptable to research (Goodwin & Goodwin, 2017). • They are important for a number of reasons, these include moral obligation to society, maintaining a good image of the discipline and profession.
- 3. APA code ofethics • The code directs psychological scientists in the planning, execution, and reporting of their research, and it includes guidelines for psychological research that tests both human participants and animals (Goodwin & Goodwin,2017).
- 4. APA code ofethics • The code includes a set of five general principles and 89 standards, clustered into 10 general categories. • The five basic principles are: 1. Principle A Beneficence and non-maleficience 2. Principle B Fidelity and responsibility 3. Principle C Integrity 4. Principle D Justice 5. Principle E Respect for people’s rights and dignity
- 5. • The generalprinciples are part of the aspirational goals that guide psychologists towards the highest ideals of psychology. • They do not represent ideals.
- 6. Beneficence and non-maleficence •Psychologists strive to benefit those they work with and take care to do no harm. • Researchers must constantly weigh the benefits and costs of the research they conduct and seek to achieve the greatest good in their research (Goodwin & Goodwin, 2017). • The non maleficence principle expects researchers to minimise the risks of harm or discomfort to the participants.
- 7. Fidelity and Responsibility •Psychologists establish relationships of trust with those they work with (Goodwin, 2010). • Researchers should uphold professional standards of conduct, clarify their professional roles and obligations, accept appropriate responsibility for their own behaviour, and seek to manage conflicts of interest that could lead to exploitation or harm. •
- 8. • Researchers areobligated to be constantly aware of their responsibility to society and are reminded to always exemplify the highest standards of professional behaviour in their role as researchers.
- 9. Integrity • Psychologists seekto promote accuracy, honesty, and truthfulness in the science, teaching and practice of psychology. • Researchers are compelled to be scrupulously honest in all aspects of the research enterprise.
- 10. Justice • It isrecognised that fairness and justice entitles all persons access to and benefits from the contribution of psychology. • Reasonable judgement and precaution should be taken to insure that the researchers’ potential biases, the boundaries of their competence and the limitations of their expertise do not lead to or do not condone unjust practices.
- 11. • Researchers areobligated to treat everyone involved in the research with fairness and to maintain a level of expertise that reduces the chances of their work showing any form of bias.
- 12. Respect for people’srights and dignity • Psychologists respect the dignity and worth of all people, and the rights of individuals to privacy, confidentiality and self determination (Goodwin & Goodwin, 2017). • Researchers should be aware that special safeguards may be necessary to protect the rights and welfare of persons or communities whose vulnerabilities impair autonomous decision making.
- 13. • Psychologists areaware of and respect cultural, individual, and role differences. • Researchers need to be vigorous in their efforts to safeguard the welfare and protect the rights of those volunteering as research participants.
- 14. Ethical standards forresearch with humans • Ethical standards are enforceable rules for conduct. • The standards include making a judgment that the research benefits outweigh the costs, gaining informed consent and treating research participants well during the course of the study and after it has been completed.
- 15. Informed Consent • Potentialparticipants should be given enough information about the study’s purpose and the research procedure. • To be informed, consent must be given by people who are competent to have consent, have consented voluntarily, are fully informed about the research and have comprehended what they have been told (Reynolds, 1979).
- 16. • Informed consentinvolves giving people the chance to decide whether they want to take part in the study before the actual start of the research. • People should not be forced, into participating in a study. • Informed consent also involves informing individuals of their right to terminate their participation at any time for any reason.
- 17. • Participants arealso ensured that confidentiality will be maintained.
- 18. Informed Consent andspecial populations • Not all research participants are capable of giving their consent due to factors such as age and disability. • In these cases informed consent should be given by either parents or legal guardians. • Children might not be able to fully understand a consent form , therefore their parents are the ones who give consent. • Researchers inform the child about the study and they gain assent from the child.
- 19. • Legal guardiansprovide informed consent for people confined in institutions. • A researcher is very often in a position of authority over participants and this authority must never be used to pressurize participants to take part in a study. • It is imperative to ensure that participants do not feel coerced into volunteering to take part in a study. • This a very difficult problem to avoid in environments such as prisons.
- 20. Subjects right towithdraw from the study • A researcher must make it clear to the participants at the onset of the research that they have the right to withdraw from the study at any time, the right to withdraw consent and the right to require that any data on them be destroyed.
- 21. Treating Participants Well •After the research study is over, the researcher debriefs the participants. • Debriefing is when the researcher recaps the purpose of the study and answers questions that the participants might have.
- 22. • The researcherexplains why it was necessary to utilise deception and ensures that participants leave the study without any negative attitudes towards the discipline. • Debriefing serves two related processes dehoaxing and desensitising. • Dehoaxing means revealing the purpose of the study and the hypothesis being tested.
- 23. • Desensitisation refersto the process of reducing any stress or any other negative feelings that might have been experienced during the research.
- 24. • The researcheralso discusses with the participants their experience of the research process from a scientific point of view. • There might be some unanticipated variables which the researcher was not aware of e.g particpants might be responding to a particular variable that the researcher had not intended to measure or was not aware of.
- 25. Deception • Occurs whenresearchers withhold the true purpose of the research from the participants or deliberately mislead participants as to the true nature of the research. • In some instances, research participants attempt to guess what the researcher is trying to find and modify their behaviour accordingly.
- 26. • According toAPA, it is permissible to use deception when the research is important, when there are no alternatives and there is no foreseeable harm to participants.
- 27. Confidentiality and Privacy •Treating participants well also concerns confidentiality and privacy. • Participants should be confident that their identities will not be known by anyone other than the researcher and that only group or disguised data will be reported. • Confidentiality though of importance, does not override the duty to protect the welfare of participants.
- 28. • Exceptions occurin cases when researchers might be compelled by law to report certain things disclosed by participants. • In research that might involve such disclosure, the informed consent form must make it clear that confidentiality could be limited (Folkman, 2000).
- 29. Avoiding Harm toparticipants • The most basic ethical concern is avoiding causing harm to participants, either psychologically or physically. • Psychologists must protect the welfare of participants in their research. • According to Polit and Hungler (1999; 31) “Do good, above all do no harm.”
- 30. • The minimisationof emotional harm experienced by participants is an important ethical concern particularly in personality research. • In practice the risk of harm to the participant in a psychological study should never be greater than the risk which the person would encounter during the course of their normal lifestyle.
- 31. • Where risksdo exist the researcher must obtain the unbiased approval of independent advisers before the research takes place. • The participants must be fully informed of the possible risks to themselves and each individual must individually give informed consent.