Ethical Considerations When Conducting Psychological Research Quantitative Studies

Ethical Considerations When Conducting Psychological Research

Quantitative Studies * Informed consent • Anonymity • Confidentiality • No potential harm • Right to withdraw • Briefing and debriefing • For animal research, humane treatment and proper medical care

Qualitative Studies * Informed consent • Anonymity • Confidentiality • Voluntary • No potential harm (for participant or researcher)

Informed Consent • • • Purpose of study Participants’ requirements Right to withdrawal Use of data Contact information (for results)

Ethical Considerations When Reporting the Results of Psychological Research

What to Avoid • Data fabrication • Plagiarism • Failure to reflect contributions of every author • Withholding raw data

Sharing Results With Participants Handle all sensitive information with care • Genetic research from twin adoptions or family studies • Identification of mental illness • Social implications of results

Generalizing the Findings of a Study

Generalizing refers to the extent that the findings of a study apply to similar situations or people outside the study

Quantitative Studies Experiments • • Most results cannot be generalized outside of the sample Replication with different samples allows for more generalizations if the same results are obtained (observer triangulation) Surveys • Random samples allow for generalization to a target population

Qualitative Studies Representational Generalizations Making generalizations outside the sample are possible with purposive samples Inferential Generalizations Making generalizations outside of the study conditions to other settings are increased through thick descriptions Theoretical Generalizations Making generalizations to a broader theory are increased with data saturation and thick descriptions

Ensuring the Credibility of a Study

Credibility vs Validity To be credible, a study must be trustworthy and believable To be valid, a study must measure what it purports to measure The more credible and valid a study is, more generalizations can be made

Quantitative Studies Experiments • • • Need to operationally measure (ie, anxiety) what it intends to measure (construct validity) Need to be reasonably certain that changes in the IV caused the change in the DV (internal validity) Since most experiments use opportunity sampling and artificial conditions, generalizing outside of the sample (population validity) or setting (ecological validity) is rare

Quantitative Studies (cont) Surveys/Correlation Studies • • Well-written questions increase credibility of results Avoid questions which might trigger demand characteristics

Threats to Internal Validity • • • Selection History Maturation Testing Effect Instrumentation Regression to the Mean Mortality Demand Characteristics Experimenter Bias

Qualitative Studies To increase credibility, researchers should: • Use reflexive statements (reflexivity) • Use triangulation • Provide thick descriptions of the data

Reflexivity means that a researcher is aware of how his/her personal biases and feelings affect data collection and analysis • Personal reflexivity- values, political beliefs, social identities etc • Epistemological reflexivity- basic assumptions about the nature of the world

Triangulation Using a combination of different approaches to collecting and interpreting data • Data triangulation- collecting data from multiple sources (interviews, observations, documents etc) • Member triangulation- checking with participants for accurate interpretations • Researcher triangulation- combining interpretations of different researchers

Thick Descriptions Describing the results in sufficient detail so that it can be understood holistically and in context. They are detailed descriptions telling the reader exactly what happened at the research site.

Avoiding Bias

Quantitative Studies Experiments • • Use a double-blind experiment Independent replications reduce concerns that results are biased Surveys/Correlation Studies • • Avoid gender-biased questions Reduce stereotyped answers

Qualitative Studies Know that in qualitative research, bias is an integral part of the research because the researcher is a tool through which the data is collected so it can never be avoided- only reduced through: • Reflexivity • Thick descriptions • Data triangulation