Dealing with ethical issues (specifics)

Question 1

How to deal with valid consent and the disadvantages.

Answer 1

• participants are formally asked to indicate their agreement to participate by, for example signing a document which contains comprehensive information concerning the nature and purpose of the research and their role in it.
• an alternative is to gain presumptive consent
• researchers must allow the right to withdraw.
  DISADVANTAGES;
• if a participant is given full information about a study this may invalidate the purpose of the study.
• Even if researchers have obtained valid consent, that does not guarantee that participants really do understand what they have let themselves in for.
• The problem with presumptive consent is that what people think that they will or will not mind can be different from actually experiencing it.

Question 2

What is presumptive consent?

Answer 2

• a method of dealing with lack of valid consent or deception, by asking a group of people who are similar to the participant whether they would agree to take part in the study.
• If this group of people consents to the procedures in the proposed study, it is presumed that the real participants would also agree.

Question 3

How to deal with deception, and the disadvantages of this?

Answer 3

• the need for deception should be approved by an ethics committee, weighing up benefits (of the study) against costs (to participants).
• participants should be fully debriefed after the study. This involves informing them of the true nature of the study.
• participants should be offered the opportunity to discuss any concerns they may have and to withhold their data from the study - a form of retrospective valid consent.
  DISADVANTAGES:
• cost; benefit decisions are flawed because they involve subjective judgements, and the costs and/or benefits are not always apparent until after the study.
• debriefing can’t turn the clock back- a participant may still feel embarrassed or have low self esteem.

Question 4

How to deal with risk of harm and the disadvantages.

Answer 4

• avoid any risks greater than experienced in everyday life. Stop the study if harm is suspected.
  DISADVANTAGES- Harm may not be apparent at the time of the study and only judged later with hindsight.

Question 5

How to deal with confidentiality and the disadvantages.

Answer 5

• researchers should not record the names of any participants; they should use numbers or false names.
  DISADVANTAGES;
• it is sometimes possible to work out who the participants were using information that has been provided, for example the geographical location of a school. In practice, therefore confidentiality may not be possible.

Question 6

How to deal with privacy and disadvantages.

Answer 6

• Do not study anyone without their valid consent unless it is in a public place and public behaviour.
  DISADVANTAGES-
• there is no universal agreement about what constitutes a public place.

Question 7

Key terms; debriefing

Answer 7

• a post research interview designed to inform participants of the true nature of the study and to restore them to the state they were in at the start of the study.
• it may also be used to gain useful feedback about the procedures in the study.
• debriefing is not an ethical issue, it is a means of dealing with ethical issues.

Question 8

KEY TERMS; ethical guidelines

Answer 8

• a set of principles designed to help professionals behave honestly and with integrity.

Question 9

KEY TERMS; ethics committee

Answer 9

• a group of people within a research institution that must approve a study before it begins.

Question 10

KEY TERMS; right to withdraw.

Answer 10

• participants can stop participating in a study if they are uncomfortable in any way. This is especially important in cases where it was not possible to give valid consent.
• Participants should also have the right to refuse permission for the researcher to use any data they produced.