ETHICS IN RESEARCH
Psychology is a science, and science is part of society. It follows that psychological scientists must work within limits imposed by society, including the standards that society sets for behaviour. Psychological researchers are bound by research ethics – a code, or set of rules, that tells them which sorts of behaviour are acceptable when conducting research. These rules relate primarily to avoiding the risk of harm to research participants. One important feature of ethical research is informed consent. [informed consent the ethical principle that research participants should be told enough about a piece of research to be able to decide whether they wish to participate] The participants (or their guardians if they are children) must have the research procedures explained to them so that they can make an informed choice about whether they wish to participate. Any risks of harm to participants must be minimised, and if they cannot be eliminated, they must be justified. Imagine some clinical psychologists develop a new form of therapy to treat a mental illness. Rather than simply using the therapy in their practice, they must first decide how to evaluate the treatment. Suppose that, in reality, the treatment has a slight risk of causing harm to participants. Before the researchers can test the effectiveness of the treatment, they must be confident that the potential benefits heavily outweigh any potential harm. Where research involves animals, their treatment must be humane and meet the standards of animal welfare. Major psychological societies, such as the American Psychological Association and the British Psychological Society, maintain web links that provide details of their ethical codes, and all researchers need to be familiar with these.
Psychology is a science, and science is part of society. It follows that psychological scientists must work within limits imposed by society, including the standards that society sets for behaviour. Psychological researchers are bound by research ethics – a code, or set of rules, that tells them which sorts of behaviour are acceptable when conducting research. These rules relate primarily to avoiding the risk of harm to research participants. One important feature of ethical research is informed consent. [informed consent the ethical principle that research participants should be told enough about a piece of research to be able to decide whether they wish to participate] The participants (or their guardians if they are children) must have the research procedures explained to them so that they can make an informed choice about whether they wish to participate. Any risks of harm to participants must be minimised, and if they cannot be eliminated, they must be justified. Imagine some clinical psychologists develop a new form of therapy to treat a mental illness. Rather than simply using the therapy in their practice, they must first decide how to evaluate the treatment. Suppose that, in reality, the treatment has a slight risk of causing harm to participants. Before the researchers can test the effectiveness of the treatment, they must be confident that the potential benefits heavily outweigh any potential harm. Where research involves animals, their treatment must be humane and meet the standards of animal welfare. Major psychological societies, such as the American Psychological Association and the British Psychological Society, maintain web links that provide details of their ethical codes, and all researchers need to be familiar with these.
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