IB Psychology – Ethics Toolkit

Context:

An important question for Psychologists is whether or not it is ethically acceptable to conduct

research in a particular way. This concern certainly extends to the use of animals as subjects, but our
focus will usually be the ethical treatment of human participants.

Ethical Issues:

It is important that all psychological research is carried out in an ethical way. This means that
participants in your study should be protected from all potential distress (anxiety, sadness, or pain).
In the UK, the standards for ethics are established by the BPS (British Psychological Society) Code of
Ethics and Conduct, which is organised around four key concepts; Respect, Responsibility,
Competence and Integrity. In the USA a similar code has been established by the APA (American
Psychological Association). Within both of these codes, six essential standards are highlighted for
reference in the IB:

1. Standard of Informed Consent

What is it?
Summary BPS Code
In summary, this means that participants
should be allowed to choose whether or
not they wish to take part in research, and
that this decision should be based on
honest information about the nature of the
research and how their data will be used.

As an essential minimum, participants

must know what they will be expected to
do or what will be done to them (but not
necessarily why!)

Why does it matter?

It is important that participants should not be forced, persuaded or tricked into taking part in
research. However, a very great proportion of psychological research still fails to meet this standard
entirely as allowing fully informed consent can reduce internal validity. Where consent is not fully
informed it is essential that any deception has been approved by an ethics committee on the basis that
the risk of harm is outweighed by the benefit of the potential findings. Participants must be fully
informed as part of a debrief at the end of the research and given the chance to have their data
destroyed if they are unhappy with any deception they have suffered.

Task: Explain the precise way in which fully informed consent could reduce the internal validity of
research.
2. Deception
What is it?
Summary BPS Code
For Psychological research to take place it
is often impossible to provide a full
description of the nature of the research to
participants (see above, including your
own work!). In this instance, an element of
deception may be tolerated, but with strict
rules.

Deception can occur on one (or both) of

two ways:

1. Deception by omission - withholding

information.
2. Deception by commission –
deliberately misleading participants
about the nature of the research.

Why does it matter?

Deception is present in many psychological studies, especially deception by omission. This can be
regarded as a limitation of research, but can also often be a chance for a ‘clever however’ if you can
explain why the benefit of increased internal validity outweighs the cost of this ethical issue in any
specific example.

3. Standard of Self Determination (‘right to withdraw’).

What is it?
Summary BPS Code
Participants must be informed, (and
regularly reminded) that they can leave the
research at any time, including the
destruction of their data after the research
is completed.

Furthermore, researchers must make sure

that this is allowed to happen in reality!

Why does it matter?

This can be an issue for covert research (where people are unaware they are being observed) as well
as situations where people have been asked to take part by someone they consider to be an authority
figure. For example, students invited to take part in research conducted by their teacher may be
unlikely to say no, even if they are uncomfortable with the idea. This can be a limitation of studies
using opportunity sampling as well as covert methods such as naturalistic observation.

4. Standard of Privacy and Confidentiality

Summary BPS Code
In summary, information about participants
can and should be kept private. In practice, this
means keeping data locked safely away.

It should also be kept confidential, which

means participants' names should be coded
into numbers, and they should never be
revealed in publication. If colleagues need to
see confidential data, this should be made clear
from the start., (who will see the data, when
and why).

Anonymity is even more rigorous than this. If

data is kept anonymous, even researchers
themselves cannot know participants' names.
Why does it matter?
It is very often relatively easy to keep data anonymous and therefore meet this ethical standard.
However, where researchers may wish to follow up the results with the same participants it may be
necessary to record names or at least introduce a system of coded numbers to match up records. As
well as breaching an ethical standard, reducing anonymity and confidentiality is also likely to greatly
reduce internal validity.

Task: in the space below, explain how and why a loss of privacy might reduce internal validity.

5. Protection from Harm

Summary BPS Code
It is essential that participants are not put
at any additional risk of physical or
psychological harm.

A good rule of thumb is that participants

should leave in EXACTLY the same
condition they arrived.

Why does it matter?

The promise of psychology is to improve our understanding of each other and to develop useful
strategies to increase the quality of life for those in need. Harming participants is not part of this
vision!

Task: Is it ok for participants to leave your experiment in a more positive state than when they
arrived, (i.e. happier, more relaxed etc.)? Explain your ideas below.

6. Debrief
Summary
At the end of the study, participants should be
informed about the following:
● True aim of the study
● How their data will be stored/used
● Their own results
● Their right to withdraw
● Any deception used
● How and where they can find help if the
study harmed them
physically/psychologically
BPS Code
3.4 (i) Debrief research participants at the
conclusion of their participation, in order to inform
them of the outcomes and nature of the research, to
identify any unforeseen harm, discomfort , or
misconceptions, and in order to arrange for
assistance as needed.
(ii) Take particular care when discussing outcomes
with research participants, as seemingly evaluative
statements may carry unintended weight.

Why does it matter?

At the end of the study, there is little reason to not share the details of the study with the participants.
This can help address any concerns raised by deception and therefore act as a second part of
‘informed consent’. It can be distressing, embarrassing, or uncomfortable to leave the experiment
without this information. One thing to consider is the risk of participants sharing these details with
other people who are due to participate in the study, causing them to change their behaviour!

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Ethics Committees:

Many of the ethical issues involved in psychological research can seem clear in a code of conduct, but
less clear when faced with a real piece of research. To avoid any doubt, all research plans are referred
to an Ethics Committee for approval. The BPS has an ethics committee but many research proposals
will be considered by local committees based in Universities, local health authorities or even the
government, (especially for research conducted with non-human participants). They ultimately
‘approve’ or ‘deny’ a study before it happens.

Cost / Benefit analysis

In all Psychological research it is important to consider the potential costs of the research (mainly in
terms of any possible risk to participants), relative to any potential benefits to the participants or
humanity more generally. Some research which may risk serious ethical concern may therefore still
be judged to be worthwhile and acceptable.

TOK link: is any risk to participants ever really justifiable in the pursuit of knowledge? Why? Why
not?