Ethical Principal in Psychological Research.pptx

1. Tushar Singh

2. Ethics
Research ethics concerns the responsibility of
researchers to be honest and respectful to all
individuals who are affected by their research studies or
their reports of the studies’ results.

3. Ethical Codes for Forensic Psychologists
ETHICS CODE: GENERAL PRINCIPLES
 APA Ethics Code delineates five aspirational goals toward which
psychologists should strive in their practice, teaching, and
research.
 Beneficence and malfeasance. Psychologists should
safeguard the rights and welfare of those
 to whom they provide services and maintain vigilance to
ensure that their influence is not misused
 to whom they work with and avoid doing harm, and they
should recognize any adverse effect of their own physical
and mental health on the services they provide.

4. Ethical Codes contd…
 Fidelity and responsibility- Psychologists should establish
trusting relationships with their clients
 clarify their professional roles and obligations
 Coordinate services with other professionals to each client’s benefit
 attend to the ethical probity of colleagues and provide some
measure of pro bono service.
 Integrity- Psychologists should promote truthfulness in research,
teaching, and practice
 avoid dishonesty, deception, subterfuge, and misrepresentation of
fact.
 Should they deem any deception justifiable, they should consider
carefully whether it is necessary
 whether the benefits of the deception outweigh any adverse
consequences it might have
 what steps should be taken to minimize or repair any resulting
harmful effects of the deception.

5. Ethical Codes contd…
 Justice- Psychologists should allow equal access to their services by
all people
 they should provide services of equal quality to all
 Take reasonable care to prevent any biases or limitations of their
competence from leading to improper or inadequate practices on
their part.
 Respect for people’s rights and dignity- Psychologists should
respect the dignity and worth of all people and their rights to privacy
and autonomy
 to persons with diverse backgrounds, including diversity related
to age, gender, gender identity, race, ethnicity, national origin,
religion, sexual orientation, disability, and socioeconomic status.
 neither condone nor participate in discriminatory practices based
on such individual differences.

6. APA Guide
• The researcher is obligated to protect participants
from physical or psychological harm.
• During or after a study, participants may feel increased
anxiety, anger, lower self- esteem, or mild depression,
especially in situations in which they feel they have
been cheated, tricked, deceived, or insulted.

7. Table 4.2 (APA guide)
The general concept of informed consent is that human
participants should be given complete information
about the research and their roles in it before agreeing to
participate.

8. Seeking IRB Approval
 Complexity of process depends on complexity
and risks of the study
 ALL research with humans (and animals)
must:
 use valid methods
 follow legal/ethical standards
 be IRB approved
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9. Seeking IRB Approval
 Project must meet responsibility and
qualification criteria
 Responsible for welfare/dignity of
participants
 Qualified to do the research (students with
supervision OK)
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10. Seeking IRB Approval
 With humans, voluntary implied consent
required
 Consent forms must:
 Be descriptive and clear
 Explain confidentiality/anonymity
procedures
 Provide participants with stated rights and
protections inherent in the study
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11. Explain why and ensure
understanding
• Researchers often tell participants exactly what will be
done in the study but do not explain why.
• Simply telling participants about the research does not
necessarily mean they are informed, especially in
situations in which the participants may not be
competent enough to understand.

12. Voluntary Participation
Participants may feel coerced to participate or perceive
that they have limited choice.

13. Deception
• Passive deception ( or omission) is the withholding or
omitting of information; the researcher intentionally
does not tell participants some information about the
study.
• Active deception ( or commission) is the presenting of
misinformation about the study to participants. The
most common form of active deception is misleading
participants about the specific purpose of the study.

14. Justified Deception
 The deception must be justified in terms of some
significant benefit that outweighs the risk to the
participants. The researcher must consider all
alternatives to deception and must justify the rejection
of any alternative procedures.

15. Debriefing
The final point is that deceived participants must receive
a debriefing that provides a full description of the true
purpose of the study, including the use and purpose of
deception, after the study is completed.

16. Confidentiality
The APA ethical guidelines require that researchers
ensure the confidentiality of their research participants.
Ensuring that participants’ records are kept anonymous.

17. ETHICAL ISSUES AND SCIENTIFIC
INTEGRITY

18. Reporting of Research
a. Researchers do not fabricate data. (They do not make
false, deceptive, or fraudulent statements concerning their
publications or research findings.)
b. If they discover significant errors in their published data,
they take reasonable steps to correct such errors in a
correction, re-traction, erratum, or other appropriate
publication means.
c. They do not present portions of another’s work or data as
their own, even if the other work or data source is cited
occasionally.

19. Error and fraud
 It is important to distinguish between error and fraud.
 Fraud, is an explicit effort to falsify or misrepresent
data.

20. Safeguards Against Fraud
 A safeguard against fraud is peer review, which takes
place when a researcher submits a research article for
publication.
 Replication is repetition of a research study using the
same basic procedures used in the original to test the
accuracy.

21. Plagiarism
You can literally copy an entire paper word for word and
present it as your own work or you can copy and paste
passages from articles and sites found on the Internet.

22. Special Issues
 Young participants
 If under 18*, or disabled the guardian must
give consent
 Video/audio recording
 Need consent and confidentiality promises
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23. Debriefing
 Telling participants about the study
 Helps them understand the importance of their
involvement in research
 Required if deception is used
 Often left out, but very important
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24. Ethical Dilemmas in Research
 Conformity among participants
 Eavesdropping for unobtrusive observation
 Requiring student participation
 Asking questions about sexual behaviors
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