Lesson Element Ethical Considerations Instructions And Answers

lesson element ============== ethical considerations ====================== instructions and answers for teachers ------

Lesson Element
==============
Ethical considerations
======================
Instructions and answers for teachers
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These instructions cover the student activity section which can be
found on page 10. This Lesson element supports OCR AS and A Level
Psychology.
When distributing the activity section to the students either as a
printed copy or as a Word file you will need to remove the teacher
instructions section.
Aims and Objectives
The aim of this lesson element is to introduce the different ethical
guidelines that Psychologists should follow when conducting research
and how breaking these ethical guidelines can be dealt with.
Objectives
*
Students will be able to understand and describe the different
ethical guidelines that can arise in psychological research.
*
Students will be able to apply their knowledge of ethical
guidelines to assess novel stimuli
*
Students will be able to explain how breaking the ethical
guidelines can be dealt with.
*
Stretch and challenge – Students will be able to design a
procedure which is ethical.
Associated materials:
Student information sheets on ethics, task sheets 1a, 1b, 2 and 3.
This activity offers an opportunity for English skills development.


This activity offers an opportunity for maths skills development.
Summary, background and common student misconceptions
Ethics are central to what psychologists do whether in research or in
practice. The British Psychological Society (BPS) issues ethical
guidelines for those involved in conducting psychological research.
These outline what is considered to be acceptable and unacceptable in
psychological research. Psychologists may never be able to follow all
ethical guidelines whilst conducting research but they should make an
attempt to overcome breaking any ethical guidelines if they do so.
This lesson element is intended to introduce students to the various
different ethical guidelines and help them to understand how to
overcome breaking the guidelines.
This lesson would be best sequenced very early on in the course as
ethics are a central part of research consideration. Subsequent
lessons on research methods such as self-reports, observations and
correlations can then build on previous knowledge of ethics and be
further linked in with the topic as each research method will tend to
break certain guidelines. The core studies can then be assessed in
terms of their ethics as they are learnt.
The main misconception students struggle to grasp with ethics is
understanding that debriefing is not an ethical guideline that may be
broken; rather it is a way of overcoming any ethical guidelines that
have been broken.
Task instructions and teacher preparation
The tasks can be delivered in a number of ways depending on your
teaching style, student characteristics etc. It could be all within
the classroom, or reading the first page and completing Task 1 could
be set as homework to be discussed in the lesson as an introductory
activity. Alternatively, teachers may decide to read and explain the
written information sheet first and then work through the tasks (some
of which can then be set for homework).
It may help visual learners by showing students some you tube clips of
research that is unethical after they have learnt the guidelines and
get them to assess the ethics of those also. These could include the
research by Stanley Milgram and on David Reimer, as focused on in this
lesson, or other research such as studies conducted by Albert Bandura,
or Watson and Rayner’s study on Little Albert:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr5cjyokVUs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXJN_zXcspM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zerCK0lRjp8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFDmQeXt8J8
The tasks could be set as an individual task, or completed as paired
or small group work. Selecting students to then read out their answers
and summarising them on the board is a good way to maintain focus and
ensure that all students have the correct information at the end of
the lesson and this is also a good point to explain any
misunderstanding.
There is a student information sheet that lists the ethical guidelines
and how to overcome breaking them and then associated task sheets.
Teachers should print the student handout and provide each student
with one, as this will be a very useful resource for the future. Each
student should also receive the student task sheets, unless the
activity is planned to be done as a group. The student task sheets are
the focus of the lessons and will enable students to consolidate what
they have learnt.
Task 1 – Students should read the two pieces of research and refer
back to their information hand-out to help identify what ethical
guidelines have been broken or followed and how. This can then be
reviewed by asking different students for answers. Students should
also consider the cost and benefits for society of breaking such
guidelines and if they think the research is justified.
Task 2 – For the Milgram study, task 2 could be used instead of task
1b, the task allows a focus on specific ethics that were broken by
Milgram and how he attempted to deal with them. Alternatively, it may
work best as a follow up task with the focus being on how Milgram
attempted to address the ethical issues that the students have
identified in 1b. As a way of differentiation, the table could be
given to learners with as many blanks as you wish for them to
complete, this could differ depending on the learner. As a stretch and
challenge activity, learners could apply their knowledge to another
core study which has less obvious ethical issues.
Task 3 – Again this can be used in a number of different ways
depending on your preference. It could be used as a mini assessment to
see how much students have learnt at the end of the lesson elements.
Equally it could be set as a group challenge to see who finishes first
or simply set as a homework activity. Either way students should be
encouraged to answer the task without using class notes and rely on
what they have learnt.
For more information regarding the ethical guidelines refer to the BPs
website code of ethics.
http://www.bps.org.uk/system/files/documents/code_of_ethics_and_conduct.pdf
Task 1 – Checking your understanding of ethics
Using your knowledge of the above guidelines assess the following
studies in relation to the ethical issues presented within them. State
and explain how the issues were broken or followed.
1a. David Reimer
In 1965, a baby boy was born in Canada named David Reimer. At eight
months old, he was brought in for a standard procedure: circumcision.
Unfortunately, during the process his penis was burned off. This was
due to the physicians using an electro cautery needle instead of a
standard scalpel.
When the parents visited psychologist John Money, he suggested a
simple solution to a very complicated problem: a sex change. His
parents were distraught about the situation, but they eventually
agreed to the procedure. They didn’t know that the doctor’s true
intentions were to prove that nurture, not nature, determined gender
identity. Therefore, he decided to use David as his own private case
study.
David, now Brenda, acted very much like a stereotypical boy and had
conflicting and confusing feelings about an array of topics. Worst of
all, her parents did not inform her of the horrific accident as an
infant. This caused devastating consequences through the family.
Brenda’s mother was suicidal, her father was alcoholic, and her
brother was severely depressed.
Finally, Brenda’s parents gave her the news of her true gender when
she was fourteen years old. Brenda decided to become David again,
stopped taking oestrogen, and had a penis reconstructed. Dr. Money
reported no further results beyond insisting that the experiment had
been a success, leaving out many details of David’s obvious struggle
with gender identity. At the age of 38, David committed suicide.
Outline of the ethical issues broken or followed.
Informed consent – Gained from parents but they were deceived about
the nature of the psychologists’ intentions.
Deception – David (Brenda) was not made aware of the accident until
the age of 14 and lied to about her true gender identity.
Privacy and confidentially –Not met as the results have been
published.
Right to withdraw – Brenda decided to become David again, once she had
been informed at the age of 14 what had happened, she stopped taking
Oestrogen, and had a penis reconstructed.
Protection of participants - Brenda’s (David’s) mother was suicidal,
her father was alcoholic, and her brother was severely depressed due
to the accident, David had obvious struggles with gender identity. At
the age of 38, David committed suicide.
Consider the cost to the participants and the benefits of the
findings. Was this research justified?
No, it came at a great cost to not only Brenda (David) but also to his
family. Her mother was suicidal, her father was alcoholic, and her
brother was severely depressed due to the accident. David eventually
committed suicide.
1b. Stanley Milgram (1963)
Stanley Milgram was interested in investigating whether ordinary
people will obey a legitimate authority figure even when required to
injure an innocent person. Participants were 40 males aged 20-50 from
New Haven in the USA and had volunteered to take part in a study about
learning and memory. They were paid $4.50 for their participation and
told they would still get paid simply for turning up at the lab. There
was also a ‘confederate’ who played the role of the learner whom
participants believed to be a real participant. Participants were
allocated a role of a teacher or learner (which was fixed and they
were always given the role of the teacher) and took part in a word
pair recall task.
The confederate was always given the role of the ‘learner’ in each
trial and always acted exactly the same for each participant. The
participant was always allocated the ‘teacher’ role. The teacher was
told to administer an electric shock to the learner every time he got
a question wrong on the tasks (the electric shock was fake but
participants didn’t know this!) The learner mainly gave wrong answers
and he received his fake shocks after each wrong answer was given.
Even when the learner seemed in apparent pain (always banging on a
wall at 300 Volts) the experimenter told the participant (teacher) to
continue.
In total 65% of participants continued to deliver a deadly 450 volt
shock, all participants went to 300 volts. Milgram conducted his
research in other countries and found a similar level of obedience in
those too. Participants were debriefed at the end of the study and
reunited with the confederate.
For further information on this study, refer to the OCR Psychology
Core Studies Guide 1.
Outline of the ethical issues broken or followed.
Informed consent – Participants did not give fully informed consent
because they thought they were taking part in a study about learning
and memory when really it was about obedience.
Deception – Participants were deceived about the true nature of the
study, the role of the confederate, the allocation of roles and they
thought the shocks were real when in fact they were fake.
Privacy and confidentially – Maintained, results of the real
participants are unknown.
Right to withdraw – Participants were encouraged to continue by the
experimenter’s ‘prods’ and so may not have felt they could withdraw,
even though they were told they would still get paid for the research
simply for turning up at the lab.
Protection of participants – Participants may have been
psychologically and physically harmed by believing they have
administered lethal electric shocks to another individual.
Debrief - Participants were debriefed at the end of the study and
reunited with the confederate.
Consider the cost to the participants and the benefits of the
findings. Was this research justified?
It did highlight that people are likely to obey an authority figure
which has a benefit to society and helps us to explain some behaviour
such as why people obey leaders e.g. Hitler, but the cost to the
participants psychologically may have been long lasting.
Task 2 – Milgram – Identify specific ethical issues and how they were
considered.
Ethical Issue
How Milgram‘s study was unethical.
How the issue was considered.
Informed consent
Participants were not given informed consent as they agreed to take
part in a study on memory, not obedience.
Milgram was unable to offer full informed consent as this would have
ruined the experiment.
Right to withdraw
Participants did not have a right to withdraw, as prods were given
such as ‘the experiment requires that you continue’
They were informed at the start of the study they could withdraw and
in fact 35% did.
Confidentiality
Information about participants in the journal article such as - a 46
year old encyclopaedia salesman from New Haven could make them easily
identifiable.
All names were kept confidential and no names were reported in the
research paper.
Protection of participants
Participants were clearly distressed by the experience, they believed
they had seriously harmed or killed another human being. Some
participants should nervous laughter, while others had uncontrollable
seizures.
Milgram could not have envisaged the harm caused. All participants
were debriefed and offered psychological support afterwards.
Debrief
Although participants were debriefed, post experimental interviews
showed that 16% were not glad to have taken part and 26% did not agree
they had learnt something
All participants were fully debriefed and followed up a year after the
study.
Deception
Participants were told the study was about memory not obedience, they
believed they were delivering real electric shocks and the allocation
of ‘teacher’ and ‘learner’ was fixed.
All of the deception was necessary in order to ensure the internal
validity was high and so that demand characteristics did not impact on
results.
Task 3 – Ethics Knowledge test
1.
What do the guidelines say about covert observational research
(where people do not know they are being observed)?
You should only expect to be observed in a ‘public place’.
2.
Define what is meant by ethics.
The science of morals or rules of behaviour.
3.
If a child takes part in research (under 16) what do psychologists
need to do?
Gain consent from parents/guardians.
4.
The BPS (British Psychological Society) has the rules that
psychologists must follow. The four main words to remember are:
Respect
Competence
Responsibility
Integrity
5.
Psychologists are able to do something after their research has
taken place as a means of overcoming breaking any ethical
guidelines, what is it they can do and why is it important?
Debriefing - it is important to provide participants with any
necessary information they need to complete their understanding of the
study and check that participants have not suffered any harm
psychological or physical harm.
6.
What is meant by informed consent and when should it be gained?
Telling participants the nature, purpose, and anticipated consequences
of any research participation, and ideally the researcher should gain
informed consent at the beginning of the research
7.
Researchers should make sure that participants leave in the same
mental and physical state as when they entered the investigation.
This is known as protection of participants from psychological and
physical harm
8.
If a participant withdraws during or after a study what must be
done?
Their data should be destroyed.
9.
Deception is when the participants do not know the true purpose of
the investigation due to being misled or lied to.
10.
What is meant by the ethical principle of respect
Psychologists should respect individual, cultural and role
differences, including age, disability, education, ethnicity, gender,
language, national origin, race, religion, sexual orientation, marital
or family status and socio-economic status.
11.
Why might psychologists sometimes deceive their participants?
To preserve the integrity of research and gain more valid results.
12.
Participants’ details should be kept private and confidential
Participants should be made aware where any breech of
confidentially may occur.
13.
Why might psychologists sometimes not gained fully informed
consent?
To hide the true nature of the study in order to increase the validity
of the results.
14.
Unscramble these words – there are four: Beefs analyticities so
nth
The cost benefit analysis
15.
Now explain what the above word means in relation to ethical
guidelines.
Psychologists must ‘weigh up’ the benefits to society that may be
gained by testing new theories and the costs to the participants
within the research.
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Lesson Element
==============
Ethical considerations
======================
Student Activity
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**For the exam you need to know and understand the ethical guidelines
and how they are applied (i.e. broken or followed) in studies and the
way that breaking the ethical guidelines can be overcome.**
Definition: Ethics can be defined as the science of morals or rules of
behaviour.
Why is it important to adhere to ethical guidelines?
To ensure that all participants are protected from harm. This will
give psychology a good name and should mean that participants will be
willing to take part again in any future research. This is very
important because participants are vital for psychological research.
Any psychological harm suffered by participants would give psychology
a bad name and would deter further participation in research.
The British Psychological Society (BPS) issues ethical guidelines for
those involved in conducting psychological research. These outline
what is considered to be acceptable and unacceptable. This code is
based on four ethical principles, which constitute the main domains of
responsibility within which ethical issues are considered. These are
respect, competence, responsibility and integrity
Below is an outline of the four principles and the main ethical
guidelines you need to know:
The four principles
Respect
Psychologists should respect individual, cultural and role
differences, including (but not exclusively) those involving age,
disability, education, ethnicity, gender, language, national origin,
race, religion, sexual orientation, marital or family status and
socio-economic status. They should also respect the knowledge,
insight, experience and expertise of participants and members of the
general public .and avoid practices that are unfair or prejudiced. The
guidelines informed consent, right to withdraw and privacy and
confidentiality are part of the principle of respect.
Competence
Psychologists value the continuing development and maintenance of high
standards of competence in their professional work, and the importance
of preserving their ability to function optimally within the
recognised limits of their knowledge, skill, training, education, and
experience.
Psychologists should: Develop and maintain a comprehensive awareness
of professional ethics, including familiarity with this Code,
Integrate ethical considerations into their professional practices as
an element of continuing professional development. Recognise that
ethical dilemmas will inevitably arise in the course of professional
practice and accept their responsibility to attempt to resolve such
dilemmas.
Responsibility
Psychologists value their responsibilities to the general public, and
to the profession and science of psychology, including the avoidance
of harm and the prevention of misuse or abuse of their contributions
to society. The guidelines protection of participants and debriefing
are part of the principle responsibility.
Integrity
Psychologists value honesty, accuracy, clarity, and fairness in their
interactions with all persons, and seek to promote integrity in all
facets of their scientific and professional endeavours. The guidelines
relating to deception are part of the integrity principle.
The main ethical guidelines
Informed Consent – Participants should be told the nature, purpose,
and anticipated consequences of any research participation, and
ideally the researcher should gain informed consent at the beginning
of research. If participants are under the age of 16, consent needs to
be gained from parents or guardians.
Right to withdraw – Investigators should make clear to participants
their right to withdraw from the investigation at any time
irrespective of payment or other inducement. If a participant
withdraws they have the right to demand their own data and recordings
to be destroyed.
Privacy and Confidentiality – Participants privacy should be respected
and in the case of observations research you should only expect to be
observed in a ‘public place’. All results or information gathered
relating to specific individuals must be kept confidential. Names or
details of participants should not be released. Participants should be
made aware where any breech of confidentially may occur.
Protection of Participants – Researchers must not cause any physical
or psychological harm to participants. They should leave a study in
the same state that they entered.
Deception – Intentional deception such as lying to participants,
misleading them about the aims or other aspects involved must be
avoided as much as possible unless deception is necessary in
exceptional circumstances to preserve the integrity of research.
Debriefing – A way to overcome breaking ethical guidelines after a
piece of unethical research has been conducted is to debrief your
participants. This is done at the end of the study, it is the
researchers’ responsibility to provide participants with any necessary
information they need to complete their understanding of the study and
check that participants have not suffered any harm psychological or
physical harm. If the participants had been deceived in any way or
consent not gained the researchers should fully explain the true
purpose.
The cost benefit analysis
Psychologists must ‘weigh up’ the benefits to society that may be
gained by testing new theories and the costs to the participants
within the research. This may often produce conflict about treating
the participants ethically. For example, if informed consent is
obtained and no deception is used in the study the participants are
being treated ethically BUT they are not naïve so this could affect
the results of the study.
Can you think of any other reasons why psychologists may break ethical
guidelines and what benefits it may have for their research?
Task 1 – Checking your understanding of ethics
Using your knowledge of the above guidelines assess the following
studies in relation to the ethical issues presented within them. State
and explain how the issues were broken or followed.
Task 1a – David Reimer
In 1965, a baby boy was born in Canada named David Reimer. At eight
months old, he was brought in for a standard procedure: circumcision.
Unfortunately, during the process his penis was burned off. This was
due to the physicians using an electro cautery needle instead of a
standard scalpel.
When the parents visited psychologist John Money, he suggested a
simple solution to a very complicated problem: a sex change. His
parents were distraught about the situation, but they eventually
agreed to the procedure. They didn’t know that the doctor’s true
intentions were to prove that nurture, not nature, determined gender
identity. Therefore, he decided to use David as his own private case
study.
David, now Brenda, acted very much like a stereotypical boy and had
conflicting and confusing feelings about an array of topics. Worst of
all, her parents did not inform her of the horrific accident as an
infant. This caused devastating consequences through the family.
Brenda’s mother was suicidal, her father was alcoholic, and her
brother was severely depressed.
Outline of the ethical issues broken or followed.
Consider the cost to the participants and the benefits of the
findings. Was this research justified?
Task 1b – Stanley Milgram (1963)
Stanley Milgram was interested in investigating whether ordinary
people will obey a legitimate authority figure even when required to
injure an innocent person. Participants were 40 males aged 20-50 from
New Haven in the USA and had volunteered to take part in a study about
learning and memory. They were paid $4.50 for their participation and
told they would still get paid simply for turning up at the lab. There
was also a ‘confederate’ who played the role of the learner whom
participants believed to be a real participant. Participants were
allocated a role of a teacher or learner (which was fixed and they
were always given the role of the teacher) and took part in a word
pair recall task.
The confederate was always given the role of the ‘learner’ in each
trial and always acted exactly the same for each participant. The
participant was always allocated the ‘teacher’ role. The teacher was
told to administer an electric shock to the learner every time he got
a question wrong on the tasks (the electric shock was fake but
participants didn’t know this!). The learner mainly gave wrong answers
and he received his fake shocks after each wrong answer was given.
Even when the learner seemed in apparent pain (always banging on a
wall at 300 Volts) the experimenter told the participant (teacher) to
continue.
In total 65% of participants continued to deliver a deadly 450 volt
shock, all participants went to 300 volts. Milgram conducted his
research in other countries and found a similar level of obedience in
those too. Participants were debriefed at the end of the study and
reunited with the confederate.
For further information on this study, refer to the OCR Psychology
Core Studies Guide 1.
Outline of the ethical issues broken or followed.
Consider the cost to the participants and the benefits of the
findings. Was this research justified?
Task 2 – Milgram - Identify specific ethical issues and how they were
considered.
Ethical Issue
How Milgram‘s study was unethical.
How the issue was considered.
Informed consent
Right to withdraw
Confidentiality
Protection of participants
Debrief
Deception
Task 3 – Ethics knowledge test
1.
What do the guidelines say about covert observational research
(where people do not know they are being observed)?
2.
Define what is meant by ethics?
3.
If a child takes part in research (under 16) what do psychologists
need to do?
4.
The BPS (British Psychological Society) has the rules that
psychologists must follow. The four main words to remember are:
5.
Psychologists are able to do something after their research has
taken place as a means of overcoming breaking any ethical
guidelines, what is it they can do and why is it important?
6.
What is meant by informed consent and when should it be gained?
7.
Researchers should make sure that participants leave in the same
mental and physical state as when they entered the investigation.
This is known as …………..of ……………..from …………..and …………….harm
8.
If a participant withdraws during or after a study what must be
done?
9.
…………………… is when the participants do not know the true purpose of
the investigation due to being misled or lied to.
10.
What is meant by the ethical principle of respect?
11.
Why might psychologists sometimes deceive their participants?
12.
Participants details should be kept ……………………. and …………………………..
Participants should be made aware where any …………………… of
confidentially may occur.
13.
Why might psychologists sometimes not gained fully informed
consent?
14.
Unscramble these words – there are four: Beefs analyticities so
nth
15.
Now explain what the above word means in relation to ethical
guidelines.

September 2015