Ethical Issues in Psychological Research

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Ethical Issues in Psychological Research

• Week 3
• HP502 Introductory Psychology Learning, Memory
  and Cognition
• Mr Simon Morris
• BA(Soc.Sc.) Monash, PostGrad Dip. Psych. Monash
• smorris_at_students.ballarat.edu.au

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Lecture outline

• APS Code of Ethics
• Deception in psychological research
• Psychological research and popular culture
• Ethics and animal research
• Ethical dilemmas

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APS Code of Ethics

• The Australian Psychological Society (APS) is the
  largest professional association for
  psychologists in Australia, representing more
  than 15,000 members.
• The APS is committed to advancing psychology as a
  discipline and as a profession.
• The APS adopted its Code of Ethics in 1997. It
  was last revised in 2003. The Code of Ethics
  replaced the Code of Professional Conduct which
  was adopted in 1986.

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APS Code of Ethics

• The code is complemented by a series of
  guidelines, which are designed to clarify and
  amplify the application of the principles
  established in the code and to facilitate their
  interpretation in contemporary areas of
  professional practice.
• The guidelines are subsidiary to the relevant
  sections of the code and must be read and
  interpreted in conjunction with the code.

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APS Code of Ethics

• A member acting inconsistently with the
  guidelines will bear the burden of demonstrating
  that his or her professional conduct was not
  unethical.
• The code and the guidelines are subject to
  periodic amendments, which will be circulated to
  members. Notification of changes to the code will
  also be included in a publication of the
  Australian Psychological Society and individuals
  must ensure that their copy of the code is
  current.
• www.psychology.org.au/aps/ethics/

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General Principles

• Responsibility
• Competence
• Propriety

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Responsibility

• Members remain personally responsible for the
  professional decisions they make.
• (a) Members are expected to be cognisant of the
  reasonably foreseeable consequences of their
  actions and to endeavour to ensure that their
  services are used appropriately.
• (b) Members shall have ultimate regard for the
  highest standards of their profession.

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Competence

• Members shall bring and maintain appropriate
  skills and learning in their areas of
  professional practice.
• (a) Members must not misrepresent their
  competence, qualifications, training or
  experience.
• (b) Members must refrain from offering advice or
  undertaking work beyond their professional
  competence.

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Propriety

• The welfare of clients and the public, and the
  integrity of the profession, shall take
  precedence over a members self interest and over
  the interests of the members employer and
  colleagues.
• (a) Members must respect the confidentiality of
  information obtained from clients in the course
  of their professional work. They may reveal such
  information to others only with the consent of
  the person or the persons legal representative.
  However in those unusual circumstances where
  failure to disclose may result in clear risk to
  the client or to others, the member may disclose
  minimal information necessary to avert risk.
  Members must inform their clients of the legal
  and other limits of confidentiality.

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Propriety

• (b) Members must be sensitive to cultural,
  contextual, gender and role differences and the
  impact of those on their professional practice on
  clients. Members must not act in a discriminatory
  manner nor condone discriminatory practices
  against clients on the basis of those
  differences.
• (c) Members must refrain from any act which would
  tend to bring the profession into public
  disrepute.
• (d) Members must be mindful of the legal context
  in which they work, their obligations towards
  clients and employers, and their duties towards
  clients.
• (e) Where the demands of an organisation require
  members to violate this Code, members must
  clarify the nature of the conflict between the
  demands and these principles. They must inform
  all parties of members ethical responsibilities
  and seek a constructive resolution of the
  conflict.

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Specific Sections of the Code

• Psychological assessment procedures
• Relationships with clients
• Teaching of psychology
• Research
• Reporting and publication of research results

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Psychological Assessment Procedures

• Members must ensure that assessment procedures
  are chosen, administered, and interpreted
  appropriately and accurately.
• Members must supply clients with explanations of
  the nature and purpose of the procedures used and
  results of the assessment, in language the
  recipient can understand.
• Members must not compromise the effective use of
  psychological tests, nor render them open to
  misuse, by publishing or otherwise disclosing
  their contents to persons unauthorised or
  unqualified to receive such information.

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Relationships With Clients

• Undue invasion of privacy must be avoided in the
  collection and dissemination of information.
• Members must make provisions for maintaining
  confidentiality in the access, storage and
  disposal of records.
• Members must avoid dual relationships that could
  impair their professional judgement or increase
  the risk of exploitation. E.g., employees,
  students, supervisees, close friends or
  relatives.
• Sexual relationships between members and current
  clients must not occur. No member may engage in a
  sexual relationship with a former client when
  less than two years have expired since the ending
  or termination of the professional relationship.
  Further conditions apply.

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Teaching of Psychology

• When teaching, members must present information
  accurately and objectively.
• Members must recognise the power they hold over
  students or supervisees and avoid engaging in
  conduct that is personally demeaning to students
  or supervisees.
• Members must not require or otherwise coerce a
  student to participate in a classroom or other
  training demonstration if there is reason to
  suppose that the student is likely to suffer
  distress from the experience.

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Research

• In planning psychological research, members must
  undertake a careful evaluation of the ethical
  issues involved.
• Members must be aware that in all scientific
  research with human participants, there is a need
  to balance the welfare of others who ultimately
  may benefit from the findings of the
  investigation against any discomfort or risks to
  participants.
• Members must preserve and protect the respect and
  dignity of all participants and endeavour to
  ensure that participants consent to be involved
  in the research is voluntary.
• Wherever possible, participants must be
  appropriately informed of the nature and purpose
  of the investigation.

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Research

• Members must inform participants of the nature of
  the research and that they are free to
  participate or to decline to participate or to
  withdraw from the research. Such informed consent
  must be appropriately documented.
• When research participation is a course
  requirement, the member must ensure that the
  prospective participant is given the choice of
  equitable alternative activities.
• When the research necessarily involves
  participants in physical or mental stress, the
  member must inform participants concerning the
  procedures to be used, and the physical and
  psychological effects to be expected. No research
  procedures likely to cause severe distress should
  be used under any circumstances.

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Reporting and Publication of Research Results

• Members must not fabricate data or falsify
  results in their publications. If members
  discover significant errors in their publications
  they must take reasonable steps to correct such
  errors in an appropriate manner.
• Members must not present substantial portions or
  elements of anothers work or data as their own.
• Authorship is assigned to persons only for work
  they have actually performed or to which they
  have contributed.

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Psychological Research and Popular Culture

• Psychological research has reached popular
  culture. Its ethical dilemmas are fascinating
  for many people.
• A 1999 novel by German author Mario Giordano
  entitled Black Box was inspired by the Stanford
  Prison Experiment.
• A 2001 German film, Das Experiment, based upon
  the Giordano novel.
• http//www.imdb.com/title/tt0250258/trailers-scree
  nplay-E19818-10-2

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Deception in Psychological Research

• Many studies keep participants blind to the aims
  of the investigation until the end.
• Some go further by giving participants a cover
  story to make sure they do not work out the
  hypothesis being tested.
• Only a small proportion of studies actually
  involve deception. The APS only permits deception
  when
• The research of great importance, and deception
  is critical.
• Participants can be expected to find the
  procedures reasonable once they are informed.
• Participants can withdraw from the experiment at
  any time.
• Experimenters debrief the participants afterward,
  explaining the purposes of the study and remove
  any stressful after-effects.

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Ethics and Animal Research

• A greater ethical controversy surrounds the use
  of non-human animals in psychological research.
• Although this type of research may allow us to
  learn tremendous amounts about the human brain or
  behaviour, it raises questions about the moral
  status of animals.
• It involves a process of weighing the costs and
  benefits To what extend do the costs to animals
  justify the benefits to humans?
• Animal research as led to important advances in
  behaviour therapy, treatments for serious
  disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, and
  insight into nearly every aspect of psychological
  functioning, from stress and emotion to the
  effects of ageing on learning and memory.
• It is a difficult juggle between advancing the
  science and staying within sensible ethical
  boundaries.

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Ethical Dilemmas

• Taken from Psychologists Registration Board of
  NSW
• http//www.psychreg.health.nsw.gov.au/hprb/psych_w
  eb/psy_ethi.htm

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Vignette 1

• A responsible TV program was interested in
  photographing ongoing treatment being conducted
  by a psychologist as part of joint research in a
  correctional institution. They guaranteed to
  distort the facial images of the group
  participants. The psychologist's university was
  encouraging her to gain publicity for her
  research. Would this be a breach of
  confidentiality requirements? Who needed to be
  consulted before it was possible to go ahead with
  this enterprise? The participants? Senior
  Corrective Service staff? Researcher colleagues?
  The University Ethics Committee?

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Vignette 2

• A first year psychology student participated in a
  required laboratory exercise designed to
  demonstrate the effects of negative feedback on
  mood levels. The debriefing which was to be held
  by the tutor after data collection was not held
  until the following week, because of lack of
  class time. The student reported that severe
  damage to his self-esteem had resulted from this
  experience, and withdrew from the subject. Is
  than an acceptable laboratory exercise for such
  students? Was it conducted ethically? What is the
  next ethical step for staff to take with this
  student?

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Vignette 3

• You are counselling a gay man who has tested as
  HIV positive. He has not told his lover, with
  whom he is not practising safe sex. His lover is
  known to have tested negative for the virus. Your
  client is afraid to tell his lover because he
  fears that he may be rejected by him. You feel
  that this decision puts the lover at considerable
  risk, and you feel responsible for this.

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Vignette 4

• An organisational psychologist, Mr Fox, carrying
  out a research contract for the Sydney branch of
  an international research company, had negotiated
  the local contract with Ms Hound, herself an
  experienced organisational psychologist. The
  lady, a very attractive and competent woman one
  year his senior, asked him to dinner and, though
  strongly attracted to her, he was concerned about
  the ethics of beginning a possible sexual
  relationship with her. Would such a relationship
  constitute a sexual relationship with a client?
  Would they risk censure and possible
  deregistration?
• Who is the client?

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Definition of a client

• Client means a direct recipient of psychological
  services. There may be multiple recipients in
  cases where services have been contracted, paid
  for, or given consent for, by a person or
  organisation other than the person being
  assessed, evaluated or treated by the member. The
  term may subsume patients, students, research
  participants, supervisees, other direct
  recipients, other professionals, referral
  agencies or organisations. Other parties, such as
  third party payers, facilitators or sponsors, may
  also be involved in the service arrangement.

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Conclusions