Week 2: Ethics + Philo

Question 1

What are research ethics and what do they aim to do?

Answer 1

Research ethics: the moral principles guiding research from its inception through to completion and publication of results

• Aim to protect participants, researchers and the discipline

-Aim to guide ethical theory and principles of research ethics into practice

Question 2

Why are ethical considerations important throughout the WHOLE research process?

Answer 2

1) Effects which research question is addressed
2) Checks whether YOU are an appropriate person to conduct this research
3) Guides how we should conduct research with human participants (protection of ppts: should not be exposed to any physical or mental harm greater than which they encounter in their day to day lives.)
4) Helps us understand how to analyze data + report findings

Question 3

What are ethical committees?

Answer 3

Ethical committees: A body set up by a research institution to review ethical principles related to the conduct of research at the institution

Either reject (ask you to make amendments or stop your study) or accept (can begin to recruit sample and continue with study) your proposal.

Cannot commence data collection without ethics approval!!

Question 4

What guides our ethical committees?

Answer 4

• BPS code of ethics and conduct: guides our day-to-day professional conduct.
• BPS code of human research ethics: focuses on the conditions under which psychological research, which involves human participants, can take place.

Question 5

What are the 4 key ethical principles of the BPS code of ethics and conduct?

Answer 5

Respect

Competence

Responsibility

Integrity

Question 6

Key ethical principles of the BPS code of ethics and conduct : Responsibility

Answer 6

= Professional and scientific responsibilities to society that all researchers should uphold themselves to.

1) Responsibility of the ‘People’
-> ensure the welfare and dignity of participants and researchers (protection of ppts)
-> Inform ppts right to withdraw and gain informed consent
-> Researcher in position of control. No right to abuse power or harm participants

2) Responsibility of discipline
-> Accuracy and honesty when reporting findings
-> Avoid fraud and plagiarism
Should aim to use positions of power responsibly to maintain trust between ppts and researcher

Question 7

Key ethical principles of the BPS code of ethics and conduct : Respect

Answer 7

= Respect for the dignity and inherent worth of all individuals and groups (not just ppts but the target population too)
-> ALL human beings are worthy of equal moral consideration.

Question 8

Key ethical principles of the BPS code of ethics and conduct : Competence

Answer 8

= The ability of researchers to recognise the limitations of their own skills, training and experience to provide the relevant knowledge and ensure research is conducted safely and ethically

– Competent caring for the well-being of persons and groups
– Recognise the limits of your competence and the potential need for training or support from others
-Should work within your personal competence, SHOULD NOT embark on methodologies that are out of your skill set.

Question 9

Key ethical principles of the BPS code of ethics and conduct : Integrity

Answer 9

= Researchers must be open, honest and accurate throughout all aspects of research. They should avoid exploiting others for their own gain.

Question 10

What are the 4 key ethical principles of the BPS code of HUMAN RESEARCH ETHICS?

Answer 10

1) Respect for the autonomy, privacy and dignity of individuals and communities

2) Scientific integrity

3) Social responsibility

4) Maximising benefit and minimising harm

Question 11

Key ethical principles of the BPS code of HUMAN RESEARCH ETHICS : Respect for the autonomy, privacy and dignity of individuals and communities

Answer 11

Participants should experience these rights…
1) informed consent -> no coercion (shouldnt feel pressure to participate) + be aware of power imbalances and vulnerable populations.
- Participants should be given sufficient information (rights, aims, procedure and what their data will be used for) so they can consider whether they wish to participate prior to taking part (U16’s must have parental consent)

2) Right to withdraw -> participants should be fully aware that they are free to leave the study at any point.

3) Confidentiality + anonymity-> the right of ppts to have their data, personal info and privacy protected.

Question 12

Key ethical principles of the BPS code of HUMAN RESEARCH ETHICS : Scientific integrity

Answer 12

= Research should be designed, reviewed and conducted in a way that ensures its quality and contribution to the development of knowledge and understanding.

-AVOID QRPs (questionable research practices) : eg misuse of statistics and selective reporting of data

-AVOID research misconduct : eg fabrication of data, falsification (changing data) and plagiarism

Question 13

Key ethical principles of the BPS code of HUMAN RESEARCH ETHICS : Social responsibility

Answer 13

= The aim of generating psychological knowledge should be to support beneficial outcomes.

Should work in partnership with colleagues, participants and broader communities

Be self-reflective and open to challenges

Work within limits of professional competence

Question 14

Key ethical principles of the BPS code of HUMAN RESEARCH ETHICS : Maximising benefit and minimising harm

Answer 14

= Psychology researchers should seek to maximise the benefits and minimise the harm of their work at all stages, from inception through to dissemination

Considering the cost-benefit ratio of research

Question 15

What risks are there in ethical research?

Answer 15

1) Stress
2) Invasive procedures
3) Deception
4) Confidentiality

Question 16

Risks in research: Stress
- how to avoid stress
- what to do if stress is unavoidable

Answer 16

= All research should return both ppts and researchers to the mental state in which they arrived

-Project planning should include risk assessment and management; consider any potential psychological discomfort and aim to combat this

Stress might be unavoidable; dependent on topic (eg studing anxiety so must purposefully make ppts stressed) THEREFORE -> make sure stress does not persist outside of the experimental session

-Be mindful of target population; vulnerable groups can be at greater risk of psychological discomfort if they have not understood what to expect in study.

Question 17

Risks in research: Invasive procedures
- what is an invasive procedure
- example of a non-physical invasive procedure

Answer 17

= Does not only refer to physical invasive procedures such as physical causes of drug trials, but also the mental invasive procedures like causing stress/anxiety and providing info they otherwise could not get in their daily lives which may challenge their beliefs.

Eg Milgram: invasive mental procedures as people compelled to inflict high voltage shocks way beyond what they believed themselves capable of (neg psych impact)

Question 18

Risks in research: Deception
- 3 types
- how to use deception in research ethically

Answer 18

= Deliberately misleading participants about the true nature of the study

Three types of deception:
1) Active deception -> false/misleading info (milgram)
2) Passive deception -> withhold information
3) Informed deception -> participants consent to being deceived (eg placebo drugs)

BPS claims deception must be avoided at all costs, but sometimes it can be used if…
- It is essential for the validity of the study
- Unlikely to cause serious harm
- Includes a risk management
- Participants are debriefed by explaining true aims and why deception was used

Question 19

Risks in research: Confidentiality
- what is it
- what must it comply with
- example of using confidentiality

Answer 19

= The right of ppts to have their data, personal info and privacy protected.

Must comply with the Data Protection Act
= claim participants have the right to expect that personal information they provided will not be revealed unless agreed in advance
-Unless compelling exceptional circumstance (e.g., protect individual from harm)

How to comply to confidentiality?
-No names<use numbers instead

Question 20

How to control ethical risks in research?

Answer 20

1) Careful and precise planning; prior consideration of ethical consequences for both ppts and researcher

2) Conduct a risk assessment; reflecting on possible outcomes of ppts mental states after participating in study etc

3) Ask ethics committee for advice and approval

4) Consent form to gain informed consent (think about who can give consent)

5) Debrief (typically verbal + document)

Question 21

What is a debrief and what does it include explaining?

Answer 21

= Discussions with ppts after the study ensuring they are back to the same mental state they entered with (especially important if deception was used)

Includes explaining:
1) Purpose/explanation of deception and/or information that was withheld
2) Remind the participant of their right to withdraw from the study
3) How participant confidentiality and/or anonymity will be maintained
4) Briefly describe what will happen to the data
5) Signpost any support services they may require (ask if they have any questions)

Question 22

What is plagiarism?

Answer 22

Presenting someone else’s words or ideas as your own

Question 23

Critical Qualitative Resarch

Answer 23

Research that prioritses the analysists interpretations over the participants.
-Language is viewed as an active process with the purpose of constructing a reality.
-AIm: to interrogate the meanings and expereineces expressed in data to gain a deeper understanding of how language is used a tool to shape peoples thoughts.

EXAMPLE-> when interviewing US police officers will use critical qualitative methods as they may be unaware that they hold racist views. So must gain a deeper undertsanding, priortising the analylists interpreations over police.

Question 24

Experiential Qualitative Research

Answer 24

Research that prioritises the participants interpretations.
- Language is viewed as intentional and reflective
- AIMS -> Capture and validate meanings, perspectives and experiences, expressed in data, to make sense of the world (from ppts perspective).

Question 25

CRITICAL OR EXPERIENTIAL? "How are first year undergraduates portrayed in UK media and culture?"

Answer 25

CRITICAL -> Looks at how UK media uses language to shape people's thoughts on first year grads in order to construct a reality.

Question 26

CRITICAL OR EXPERIENTIAL? "What do Chinese international students experience and feel during their first month at university?"

Answer 26

EXPERIENTIAL -> looking at the individual experience of Chinese international students, attempting to reflect their experiences.

Question 27

Ontology vs Epistemology in Qualitative research (and link to methodology)

Answer 27

1) Ontology (being) - Concerned about the nature of reality - EG "What 'is' the thing we're studying?" = Leads to our epistemological understanding 2) Epistemology (knowledge) - Concerned about what is considered knowledge - EG "How can we come to know it?" In qualitative research, we must 1)create ontological beliefs which 2)THEN inform our epistemological knowledge, which in turn 3)helps us determine our methodology.

Question 28

What are the two ontological views in qualitative research

Answer 28

1) Realism-> Reality is entirely mind-independent. - Reality is not dependent on our perception/knowledge of it (things continue to exist even if they are not being directly perceived). - There are objective facts -WWSIWWG -> tree falls in forest, still makes a sound 2) Idealism-> Reality is entirely mind-dependent. - Reality is contingent on us perceiving it. - everything is a social construct

Question 29

Subjective idealism

Answer 29

everything is a subjective construction of the perceiver -> this is often the view qualitative research takes

Question 30

How is ontology and epistemology linked in qualitative research?

Answer 30

Our ontological beliefs inform our epistemological knowledge which in turn determines our methodology.

Question 31

What are the 4 epistemological views?

Answer 31

QUAN: Positivism (quantitative; objective, verifiable truth can be obtained) QUAL: Post Positivism Critical Realism Constructivism (qualitative; knowledge is created by humans and shaped by contexts so is fallible)

Question 32

Constructivism (epistemological view) - what is it - what ontological arg do they reject - what do they believe in instead

Answer 32

= All knowledge is constructed and therefore relative to the ‘knower’. - Relies heavily on contextual factors which influence knowledge construction. -Rejects the notion of ‘objective’ knowledge reject realism - INSTEAD, epistemic relativism : all knowledge is relative to the person doing the perceiving. = Likely to be adopted in CRTICAL qualitative research

Question 33

Positivism (epistemological view) - what is it - what is an example of positivism -how did positivism come about - what are their ontological beliefs

Answer 33

= True knowledge can only be gained through direct experience (objective, verifiable observations) - EG Behaviourism; uses objective, empirical methods to get knowledge about behaviours - Arose as a rejection to metaphysical claims (beyond physics, things cannot be proven eg existence of god) -Ontological beliefs: realists -> Positivists believe there is a mind-independent external world which we can gain knowledge from. - used in quantitative>qual research

Question 34

Post-positivism (epistemological view) - what is it - what is their ontological belief -why is it a popular view in science

Answer 34

= Knowledge is never certain as it is influenced by contextual factors (ie beliefs/values of observer). - ontological beliefs -> reality can be known but imperfectly. = Many qualitative and quantitative scientists will take a post-positivist account of knowledge because knowledge can never be certain as inductive confirmation is never perfect.

Question 35

Critical Realism (epistemological view) -what is it ? - what view is it similar to? how does it differ? - what is their ontological belief?

Answer 35

= Knowledge is never certain as it is influenced by contextual factors (beliefs/values of perceivers) AND we can derive knowledge from both observable and unobservable phenomena (main difference to post-positivism). - ontological beliefs -> reality can be known but imperfectly. -common in EXPERIENTIAL qualitative research

Question 36

What methodology would a realist vs constructivist use for measuring happiness?

Answer 36

Realist -> quantitative approach; scales to assign a numeric value of happiness Constructivist -> qualitative approach; talk to people to talk about their happiness, what it means to them, what influences their happiness, etc.

Question 37

What are some examples of qualitative methodologies?

Answer 37

Critical -> Discourse analysis Experiential -> IPA (Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis)

Question 38

Reflexive Thematic Analysis

Answer 38

Reflexive Thematic Analysis -> A flexible and interpretive approach to analysing qualitative data. Allows researchers to analyse patterns or themes within a dataset while acknowledging the influence of their own perspectives and experiences on the analysis. IT IS A method NOT a methodology because it is congruent with different philosophical perspectives.

Question 39

Positionality

Answer 39

Positionality: the researchers acknowledgement of their own social, cultural and personal identities and how these may influence their research process and outcomes. -Qualitative research rejects the notion of an ‘unbiased’ researcher. Instead, acknowledge researchers are part of the research process -Includes factors like the researchers alignment with their sample (eg insider; psychology student researching psychology student’s views on psych or outsider; a non-pet owner researching pet owner’s views of their pets).

Question 40

What might we use to deal with positionality?

Answer 40

Reflexivity :an ongoing process of critical reflection on your positionality throughout the research process. It can be… FUNCTIONAL : how your research tools/processes influenced the research – E.g., focus group versus diaries, your epistemological position PERSONAL : how own experiences and beliefs shape the knowledge we access – E.g., whether we are an insider or outsider to our sample = Reflexivity is CRUCIAL for good qualitative research; eg researcher might keep a ‘reflexive journal’ covering insights into own influence on the study that might later be published alongside research findings.

Question 41

Importance of positionality in qualitative research

Answer 41

Important in EXPERIENTIAL research as -> your biases might distort the opinions of the sample Important in CRITICAL research as -> if we're not conscious of biases, our opinions may not accurately convey the data to the reader = Positionality is just as important for BOTH experiential and critical research.

Question 42

How does positivism relate to inductive inferences?

Answer 42

inductive inferences : inferences made from the observable to the unobservable -Positivists claim that true knowledge derives from experience (empirical/scientific) - THEREFORE, we can predict (via direct experience) conclusions from observed to unobserved

Question 43

How does post-positivism relate to deductive inferences?

Answer 43

deductive inference: logical reasoning in which if the premises are true, the conclusion is logically certain - Post-positivists claim that all knowledge is never certain as it is influenced by contextual factors. - THEREFORE, we must use logic of deduction to falsify claims as inductive inferences are all fallible/never certain (eg cant see all frogs to know they are all green)