How can researchers deal with consent when telling participants the full aim would spoil the study?

Researchers can gain presumptive consent by asking a similar group whether they would find the study acceptable. Participants must then be fully debriefed afterwards.

What is deception in psychological research?

Deception means misleading participants or withholding the true aim of the study. Deception can prevent participants from giving genuinely informed consent.

How can researchers deal with deception?

Deception should be mild and used only when no alternative exists. A full debrief afterwards reveals the true aim and lets participants withdraw their data.

Edexcel GCSE Psychology 1PS0

Development

Topic overview Early brain development Piaget's theory of cognitive development Dweck's mindset theory and Willingham's learning theory The three mountains task and Gunderson's praise study The development of morality

Memory

Topic overview Information processing, duration and capacity Retrograde and anterograde amnesia Bartlett's theory of reconstructive memory The multi-store model, reductionism and holism War of the Ghosts and the Peterson and Peterson study

Psychological Problems

Topic overview Symptoms of depression and addiction Incidence and effects of mental health problems Explaining depression Explaining addiction Treating depression and addiction Key studies and the nature–nurture debate

The Brain and Neuropsychology

Topic overview Lobes of the brain and the effects of damage Lateralisation and Sperry's split-brain study Neurons, synapses and the central nervous system Phineas Gage and how brain research has changed

Social Influence

Topic overview Conformity to majority influence Obedience to authority Bystander intervention Crowd behaviour, society and culture Piliavin's subway study and the Stanford prison study

Criminal PsychologyOptional topic

Topic overview Operant conditioning and social learning explanations of crime Eysenck's criminal personality theory Punishment, recidivism and rehabilitation Bandura's Bobo doll study and Charlton's St Helena study

The SelfOptional topic

Topic overview Self-concept and influences on self-esteem Erikson's identity stages and belief in free will Rogers' and Maslow's humanistic theory Measuring personality and trait theory Vohs and Schooler's cheating study and Van Houtte and Jarvis's pet study

PerceptionOptional topic

Topic overview Depth cues, visual illusions and constancies Gibson's direct theory and Gregory's constructivist theory Perceptual set The Haber and Levin and Carmichael studies

Sleep and DreamingOptional topic

Topic overview Sleep stages and the sleep cycle Influences on sleep and sleep disorders Freud's theory of dreaming and activation synthesis theory Freud's Little Hans and Siffre's cave study

Language, Thought and CommunicationOptional topic

Topic overview Piaget and Vygotsky on language and thought Linguistic relativism and determinism Human and animal communication Non-verbal communication and Darwin's evolutionary theory The Yuki and Boroditsky studies

Research Methods

Topic overview Variables, hypotheses and controls Sampling methods Experiments and experimental designs Interviews, questionnaires and types of data Correlations, case studies and observations Ethical issues in psychological research Evaluating studies and the core areas of psychology Averages, calculations and graphs

Research Methods

Ethical issues in psychological research

3 things to know
Papers 1 and 2

Overview

The British Psychological Society's guidelines on informed consent, deception, confidentiality, the right to withdraw and protection from harm, and research with vulnerable participants.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started

Key term

What is an ethical issue in psychological research?

Key term

Which organisation sets the ethical guidelines that psychologists in the UK are expected to follow?

Key term

What is informed consent?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1
What is an ethical issue in psychological research?
Model answer
An ethical issue arises when research could harm participants or treat them unfairly, disrespectfully or dishonestly. Researchers must weigh the value of the findings against these costs.
2
Which organisation sets the ethical guidelines that psychologists in the UK are expected to follow?
Model answer
The British Psychological Society (BPS) publishes the code of ethics for psychologists in the UK.
3
What is informed consent?
Model answer
Informed consent means participants agree to take part after being told the aims, procedure and any risks. Children under 16 also need consent from a parent or guardian.
4
How can researchers deal with consent when telling participants the full aim would spoil the study?
Model answer
Researchers can gain presumptive consent by asking a similar group whether they would find the study acceptable. Participants must then be fully debriefed afterwards.
5
What is deception in psychological research?
Model answer
Deception means misleading participants or withholding the true aim of the study. Deception can prevent participants from giving genuinely informed consent.
6
How can researchers deal with deception?
Model answer
Deception should be mild and used only when no alternative exists. A full debrief afterwards reveals the true aim and lets participants withdraw their data.

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