We've spent our time talking about research methods. But one crucial aspect we
did not discuss in detail is ethics and psychology. It's important to know that
before any study is conducted, whether it's with humans or animals. It must be
approved by a federally mandated committee. For humans, it's the Institutional
Review Board. And for animals, the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.
All committee members must be trained and certified to serve. Let's talk about
the IRB. For humans, two important questions are asked regarding any research
proposal. First is, should the study be done at all? Here, committee members
are going to look at the risks versus the benefits of participating in that
research. If committee members feel that the benefits outweigh the risks, the
second question is asked. This is, what constitutes adequate informed consent?
Here the experimenters have to tell the participants, exactly every step that
they will need to complete throughout the experiment. Another important aspect
of ethics in psychology is the right for the participant to leave the
experiment at any time without negative consequences. Finally, once a
participant has completed the experiment, it's important to debrief that
person. Meaning we have to let the person know what the purpose of the study
was, and they have the right to ask any questions regarding the study. Some
main points to remember about research ethics, are that we don't want to put
anybody in harms way. We don't want to deceive anybody, unnecessarily and we
must ensure participant's privacy. Research ethics are fundamental in the study
of psychology. In fact, ethics are the most important part of psychological
research.
