Lesson 4 What do What do Psychologists do?

Sit with someone new

Recap last lesson In your tables: Outline the four features of science Outline the scientific research process

What is the scientific research process? Identify a research question. (Usually this comes from observing peoples’ behaviour or from a broader psychological theory) Formulate a theory to explain an aspect of human behaviour Predictions are made from theories in the form of a testable hypothesis. Test the hypothesis (Design and carry out empirical research to find evidence). Analyse the results and draw conclusions. Can you accept or reject your hypothesis Do the results support the theory? Does the hypothesis need revising and re-testing? Does the theory need modifying? Collect further evidence in order to see whether the theory should be accepted or not. Proposed explanation for the phenomenon

Ethics Some of the studies that you will be looking at may seem a little extreme and psychologists must ask the question whether or not such studies should take place. For example: Are we justified in asking members of the public to administer electric shocks to another volunteer or lock people away in a simulated prison just for the sake of research? What about animal studies? Should researchers take animals from the wild just to see if they can teach them to speak? The answer to these questions will depend on our own personal point of view but in order to protect participants and patients all psychological research must be carried out in an ETHICAL way.

We MUST carry studies out in an ethical way!!!!! This means that before any research can be carried out certain decisions about the morality of the study, its usefulness to society AND the competence of the people who are carrying out the research MUST be considered.

BPS In the United Kingdom psychological research has to comply with the guidelines drawn up by the British Psychological Society. These guidelines are based on four principles RESPECT COMPETENCE (efficiently/successfully) INTEGRITY (honest, strong moral principles) RESPONSIBILITY

What are ethics? Based on what we have covered so far what do you think ethics are? In pairs can you come up with a definition? When considering whether or not to grant permission for research to take place the governing body has to think ‘Does the end justify the means?’ – BPS (British Psychological Society, APS in America Concerns the question of right and wrong. May arise in research if there are conflicting values between the researcher and the participants.

TASK In your groups, your task is to… Find out what the ethical guidelines are in Psychology Briefly outline each one.

Key ethical guidelines Deception Debrief Right to Withdraw Informed Consent Protection from harm Confidentiality

Informed consent Informed Consent; have participants given informed consent? If the participant is under 16 years old, has informed consent been given by their parents or carers? means revealing the true aims of the study, or at least letting the participant know what is actually going to happen. Participants must be aware of what they are needed to do as part of the study in order to give valid consent If the study involves children parental consent must be obtained

Deception Deception: have the participants been deceived in any way? If so, could this have been avoided? Deceiving participants must be kept to a minimum Withholding details of the research to avoid influencing behaviour is acceptable, deliberately providing false information is not acceptable If telling the truth will not have an affect on results participants must be informed

Confidentiality and Anonymity The communication of personal information from one person to another and the trust this will be protected Psychologists need to be sure the information they publish will not allow their participants to be identified (keeping their identity secret may not be enough)

Debrief Debriefing: have the participants been debriefed? Have they been given the opportunity to ask questions? If consent cannot be obtained (such as in a field experiment) participants must be fully debriefed afterwards This involves telling the participant about the experiment and then giving them the option of withdrawing their information if they wish

Right to Withdraw Even after giving consent participants still have the right to leave the experiment at any point in time

Protection of participants Protection of participants: researcher must protect participants from both physical and psychological harm Participants should be no worse off when they leave an experiment as to when they arrived Risk is considered acceptable if it is no greater than what would be experienced in everyday life

Should there be ethical guidelines in research? Those that believe yes there should be stand up. Those that believe there should not be ethical guidelines stay sitting down

Identify the ethical issues in the below research proposal The ‘Sunshine Wellness Baby Centre’ would like to investigate whether women have a greater resistance to pain during labour than at the beginning of their pregnancy. They will approach women during their first midwife appointment and offer them 1000 to take part in the study. Women will need to attend a monthly appointment at the Baby Centre where they will receive an electric shock (beginning with 60v) and rate their pain level on a chart. The voltage will increase until the participant feels it would be too painful to continue.

Diemand and yauman (2010) Instructions: Scientists have recently confirmed the existence of three life forms from the planet Blangantz that have actually settled on planet earth. Although the scientists have not yet released actual pictures of these creatures, they have released lists of basic characteristics and behaviors of these creatures to the public. Task: In a moment, you will be given the list of characteristics. You have 90 seconds to learn the information from these lists for later follow-up questions.

Ethics: Application style question A researcher investigated the effectiveness of a new anti-depressant drug. She randomly allocated participants diagnosed with depression to a treatment group (the new drug) or a control group (a placebo). Explain two ethical issues that could have arisen in the study (2 marks + 2 marks) Outline how the psychologist could have dealt with each issue. (2 marks + 2 marks) Can you remember the AO’s I mentioned on induction? What is the question asking you to do?

Results Lets analyse the results as a class for both conditions Mean Range Draw and label a graph to display the results