Here are potential responses to these exam questions on ethics: 1) A psychologist could maintain confidentiality when reporting a case study by: - Using a pseudonym for the participant - Omitting or changing any identifying details 2) Two ethical issues that arise in research involving children are: - Informed consent - children may not fully understand what they are consenting to. Parental consent is needed. - Protection - there is a duty of care to protect children from potential harm, embarrassment or distress. Research methods need to be age-appropriate.

1. Ethical Issues
Re: you as students
• Informed consent (prior general consent)
• Deception (you will be deceived at times)
• Debriefing (always debriefed as will link to learning)
• Right to withdraw (you do not have the right to
withdraw as is course requirement)
• Confidentiality (I cannot promise you confidentiality
so you have the right to lie)
• Protection (I will DEFINITELY protect you from physical
harm or emotional harm – embarrassment)

2. My aunt’s bathroom scales
• Reliability = consistency, can it be
replicated?
e.g. the scales say every day that my 15 stone aunt is 8 stone.
FULLY RELIABLE.
• Validity = accurate, does it truly test
what is being studied?
e.g. she is actually 15 stone. COMPLETELY INVALID.

3. Sampling
L/O: To be able to differentiate between
RANDOM, OPPORTUNITY and VOLUNTEER sampling
Starter: methods.
You are conducting a research project where you hope
to prove (hypothesise) that there is a difference in
intelligence between men and women.
Who do you need to take part? How will you recruit?

4. Participants = the people who take
part in research.
Population = the group of people
your participants come from.
Sample = the selection of
participants, from the
population, who take part in your

5. SAMPLING
Participant sampling is important in psychological
research.
• Typical
• Representative
• Cross-section of people
= can generalise findings to general population.
IF NOT: Sample bias *a criticism you can often use in
evaluating studies so check the sampling method*
Which question from your homework could have been answered using ‘SAMPLE BIAS’?

6. L/O: To be able to differentiate between
RANDOM, OPPORTUNITY and VOLUNTEER sampling
methods.
Random: every one in the population has equal
chance of taking part. e.g. names from a hat or
random selector computer programs.
Opportunity: use anyone you can get hold of. e.g.
waiting for people to pass by you.
Volunteer: requesting for people to take part. e.g.
poster, advert, maybe a small payment.

7. RANDOM, OPPORTUNITY or
VOLUNTEER sampling?
1. You wait by the sixth form centre entrance
and approach people as they enter to take
part.
2. You put an advert on the sixth form notice
board asking people to contact you if they
would take part.
Create and write a situation for the remaining
one.

8. Application of Sampling
• Read an applied sampling question carefully.
• Last year:
Name the sampling technique used in this
experiment. Evaluate the choice of this sampling
technique in this experiment.
(1 mark + 3 marks).

9. Ethics and Ethical Issues
L/O: to be aware of and understand the implications of
ethics in psychological research.
• The British Psychological Society (BPS) are the
professional body for trained psychologists.
• Read the ethical principles set out by the BPS
(page 19, textbook).
Discuss and try to unpick it. What is it saying?

10. EXAM TIP:
Examiners look for evidence of your
understanding of ethical issues.
These should be learned and can be used to
evaluate (criticise) lots of studies!
Deception in particular.

11. L/O: to be aware of and understand the implications of ethics in
psychological research.
1. Read Milgram (1963) – page 190-191
2. Identify the ethical issues in Milgram’s research.
Take notes under the 6 headings:
AO1: knowledge.
• Informed consent
AO2: application
• Deception of knowledge.
• Debriefing
• Right to withdraw
• Confidentiality
• Protection
Pg.193 – how do your notes compare?

12. Demand characteristics – when
How to
a participant alters their control bias?
behaviour.
• Single-blind control: to keep participants in
the dark about the real aim of the research.
Any ethical
Investigator effects – when a researcher
issues?
unconsciously influences participants’
behaviour.
• Double-blind control: both participants and
researcher are kept unaware of the aims.

13. Example exam questions: ethics
1) How could a psychologist maintain
confidentiality when reporting a case study?
(2 marks)
2) Outline two ethical issues that arise in
research involving children. (2+2 marks).