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Ethical guidelines

Specification: Ethics, including the role of the British Psychological Society’s code of ethics; ethical issues in the design and conduct of psychological studies; dealing with ethical issues in research.

Ethical guidelines

Ethical issues are considerations that researchers need to consider before, during and after the research is conducted. Ethical issues take into consideration the welfare of the participants, the integrity of the research and the use of the data.

The British Psychological Society (BPS) code of ethics sets out a series of guidelines that researchers need to consider when undertaking psychological research. Six of the main ethical guidelines include:

Deception
Right to withdraw
Informed consent
Privacy and confidentiality
Protection from harm

Exam Hint: An easy way to remember six of the main ethical guidelines is to use the acronym DRIPP.

Possible exam questions

Aside from deception, identify one other ethical issue that a psychologist might have to consider when conducting research. (1 mark)
Explain why it is sometimes necessary to deceive participants in psychological research. (2 marks)
Although participants agreed to take part in Dr Chalk’s research study, they did not know the full aim of the investigation beforehand as this could have created biased result. Describe how Dr Chalk may address this ethical issue with his research study. (3 marks)
Many studies in social influence can be criticised for being unethical. Outline and evaluate ethical issues that have arisen in social influence research. Refer to evidence in your answer. (16 marks)

Revision materials

Seneca learning

Online textbook

Year 1: 176-177

Google Sites

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