Research Methods RE: Ethical Issues

Code of Ethics

• Informed consent
• Advoidance of deception
• Debriefing
• Protection of harm
• Right to withdraw
• Confidentiality
• Observational research

Ethical issues occur when there is a dilemma between what the researcher wants to do in order to conduct the study and the rights or the participants rights and dignity.

Deception:
It prevents the participant from giving informed consent.

Informed consent:
Lack of informed consent means that the participant has not agreed to be in the research.
They could end up doing things that they would not really want to.

Protection of Participants:

• They have a right to not be harmed while taking part in an experiment
• They should leave just as they have entered
• If they are harmed, it could have long term effect on their future

Dealing with ethical issues

Methods for dealing with deception: 

Debriefing:
The researcher will reveal the true aim of the research.
The aim of the debriefing is to insure that the participant leaves the same way they had entered the experiment.

Retrospective informed consent:
Once the true nature of the study has been revealed, the participant has the right to withdraw.

Methods for dealing with informed consent:

Prior general consent:
Obtaining prior consent of the participant to see if they would take part in a study that involved deception. If they agree then it would be ok to include them in future research involving deception

Presumptive consent:
Taking a random sample of the population and introducing them to the research including deception, if they agree that it would be ok then we can generalise from this to the general population

Parental consent:
When using children as participants then the researcher need parental consent.

Methods for dealing with protection of participants:

• Reminding the participants they have a right to withdraw
• The researcher ending the experiment if the harm is higher than was expected
• Debriefing