To what Extent are ethical guidelines an advantage for psychological research (20 marks)

What are the ethical guidelines and why do we have them?

What are the key advantages of having ethical guidelines?
What research has ethical issues? (Advantages of ethical guidelines)
Does this research have any practical implications/application that may be beneficial to individuals or
society?
Do ethical guidelines restrict meaningful research?

Ethics are a key part of psychological investigation, as researchers have the responsibility to ensure that
their practice is morally correct. The BPS code of ethics outlines what British psychologists must adhere to
when undertaking research and before it can be approved. The research must lie under the categories of
respect, competence, integrity and responsibility. One of the key ethical guidelines include informed
consent, deception, right to withdraw, confidentiality, and protection from harm. Informed consent
refers to researchers telling potential participants exactly what is going to happen to them in the
experiment, and ask them without pressure of any kind, whether they’re willing to take part. Deceit
should be avoided as far as possible. The BPS guidelines say that you should try to avoid intentionally
deceiving participants about the purpose and nature of the investigation. However in certain
circumstances it is acceptable and justified, but again this should be explained in debrief and corrected.
As well as, participants must have the rights to withdraw at any time. They must also have the right to
withdraw the data after the study has finished. Likewise, Participants personal data must be kept
confidential, so they don't face any negative psychological effects such as embarrassment. Furthermore
Participants should also not be under any harm or distress at any point during the study.
Research involving animals have a set of guidelines that must be followed too. Anyone using animals as
research must follow the laws regarding animal welfare, such as the animal’s act 1986. They must also be
aware of endangered species list and laws that are in place to protect them, to be sure that their research
doesn’t threaten any protected animals. Cost benefit analysis should be done before using any animal in a
study. It involves considering the costs of the study, including the cost to animals compared with
potential benefits with the findings. It’s also important to take account of how sound the findings are. A
good study is one in which the benefits, outweigh the costs. Also, researchers should try to use non-
animal procedures if possible, and research can only be done if alternatives have been considered.
Discomfort should be kept a minimum as well where pain must be reduced, animals should be housed in
environments as similar as possible to their natural habitat and their individual health requirement should
be taken into account. Furthermore, after an animal’s use in an experiment, animals may be re-used in
other research as long as their care is maintained or they may be used to breed more laboratory animals
for future research. No research can take place using animals unless it’s obvious that the animals are
being protected and all the guidelines are being adhered to.
Advantages of having ethical guidelines for humans is that participants feel safe, it allows society’s moral
standards to be maintained or even improved, and vulnerable participants are protected. For animals, the
ethical guidelines are there to protect animals. It adheres to society’s moral standards, so people are
comfortable research is being carried out, and having ethical guidelines means that the research can be
carried out which will benefit humans without the costs of such animals that’s too high.
Numerous studies in psychology have been carried out have been deemed as being unethical due to
them going against the ethical guidelines set by the BPS..
Hofling et al. (1966) study of obedience broke the ethical guideline of deception. Participants were
deceived when a ‘doctor’ gave fictitious orders. Participants were also observed without any informed
consent and nurses were asked to go against their training and instinct which might have led to negative
consequences of those involved.
Milligram’s (1973) experiment broke the code of conduct in regard to what constitutes an ethical
research. First issue was that Milgram used deception in which participants weren’t told the real aim of
the study and led to believe something else. He thought this to be necessary to help meet his aims in a
valid way, and although some levels of deception are sometimes acceptable, in this case not disclosing
the true nature of the study led to further issues. Due to this, full informed consent could not be gained
and only in a debrief, were participants told that the study was not about intelligence, but rather the
effects of authority on obedience. Also, throughout the experiment, several participants experienced
psychological harm as they believed they were seriously harming an individual, and later felt severe guilt
that just because they were being instructed, they administered fatal electric shocks to another human
being. The participants were also not tested beforehand to see whether they would be able to cope, so
they could have gotten a damaged self-esteem or PTSD. Moreover, psychological conduct states that
participants should be allowed a right to withdraw from the study at any given time. However, in this
experiment, whenever the participant expressed signs of distress and wanted to quit, they were urged to
continue through the use of verbal prods. Therefore, even though participants did not experience any
pain or long-term damage, they were not put in a position where they could give full informed consent,
were placed in highly stressful situations and found difficulty in withdrawing from such circumstances.
With research where children are concerned ethical considerations become very important. A case study
of genie, although researchers had communicated with her, taught her sign language and even put in a
friendly-environment where care was also provided; an ethical issue that can be seen is how genie was
not able to withdraw from the study due to her limited use of language and mental state.
Another major issue that is clearly shown is confidentiality. Even though her name was kept anonymous,
her study was exposed to the entire world to read. Furthermore, genie was exploited and exposed to a lot
of psychological stress and her psychological well-being was not considered. Not only was it considered
unethical due to confidentiality and her inability to withdraw and consent, researchers had personal
attachments to Genie. This would be inappropriate for researchers, which leads to the next question of
objectivity and the aims of the study.

However, some of the studies in psychology have made a large contribution into our understanding

For Hofling et al. it can be argued that the study had strong practical applications therefore any stress
caused could be justified. Also, the nurses were stopped before administering the drug and were fully
debriefed at the end. Any deception in the beginning was only done so that valid behaviour would be
shown.