Chapter 11 – Ethical issues in psychological research

This chapter deals with the responsibilities borne by professional psychologists, whether their work is applied or research oriented.

Exercises

Exercise 11.1

Ethical issues in research designs

What are the main ethical issues involved in the following possible research designs? Please have a good think before you reveal the answers.

1. A researcher arranges for shoppers to be given either too much or too little change when making a purchase in a department store. A record is taken of how many return to the cash desk and those that do are asked to complete a short questionnaire and are then debriefed as to the purpose of the study.

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The ‘participants’ in this study were not able to give their informed consent before participating. They have been mildly delayed by having to return to the cash desk but are also under undue pressure to then complete the questionnaire.

2. Participants are given a general intelligence test and are then given false feedback about their performance. They are told either that they did very well and significantly above average or that they did rather poorly and significantly below average.

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There is a possible issue of some psychological harm in that some participants are told they have produced poor intelligence scores. OK – the effect is short-lived, but psychologists have to consider whether the knowledge gained from the experiment will be worth the perhaps mild distress caused to the participants but also the effect this has on the credibility and trustworthiness of psychologists in general, in the public view.

3. In-depth semi-structured interviews are conducted with seven middle managers in an organisation where there has been some discord between middle and senior management. The researcher has been contracted to highlight possible causes of resentment and reasons for frustration that have been expressed quite widely. The researcher published a full report including demographics of the participants three of whom are women, one of whom is Asian.

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There is a problem here with anonymity. It will be easy for the senior managers to identify the sole Asian woman. In cases like these full information has to be compromised in order to preserve privacy and to protect individuals whose lives could be seriously affected by disclosure.

4. Participants volunteer for an experiment and are first shown slides that have a theme of sweets, nuts or beans. They are then asked to put their hands into bags which contain either jelly beans, peanuts or kidney beans. The researcher is interested in whether the slides influence the participant’s identification of the items in the bag.

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The description does not make clear whether the participants were asked before participating whether they might suffer from any allergies. Most importantly there is a risk of an anaphylactic reaction from the peanuts. This then is in contravention of the principle of not putting participants at any physical risk.

5. A researcher conducting an experiment is quite attracted to one of the participants. At the end of the session, when the experiment is over, he asks her for a date.

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The researcher is in a position of special power over the participant and should not exploit this by mixing professional activity with personal life. The two might of course meet up somehow outside the professional context but making this approach in the context of the experiment puts the psychologist at risk of contravening professional ethics.

Exercise 11.2

Question 1

Read each definition and match it with the item from the list to which you think it applies. If a red cross appears when you check your answer, items until a green tick appears.

Informing participants about the details of the study after testing is completed.

After briefing participants are this concerning an experiment they will participate in.

Researchers should avoid causing this in their participants.

Participants asking for their result not to be included in the study’s analysis.

Participants give this when they have been broadly told about what participation will entail.

“Informing the participant about what participations will entail. ”

Briefing

Withdrawal of data

Fully or partly informed

Debriefing

Excessive stress

Question 2

Read each definition and match it with the item from the list to which you think it applies. If a red cross appears when you check your answer, items until a green tick appears.

Participants deciding not to continue with an experiment.

Assurance that participant information/results will be kept securely and not shared.

Carrying out a research procedure where the situation presented to the participant is false.

Disguising participant’s identity

Withdrawal from the procedure

Confidentiality

Anonymity

Deception