Code of Ethics and Conduct

1. Respect

Respect for the dignity of persons and peoples is one of the most fundamental and unversal ethical principles across geographical and cultural oundaries and across professional disciplines

Psychologists should always consider:

- Privacy and Confidentiality

- Consent

2. Competence

Refers to their ability to provide specific services to a requisite professional standard

Psychologists should always consider:

- Possession or otherwise of appropriate skills and care needed to serve persons and peoples;

- The limits of their competence and the potential need to refer on to another professional.

3. Responsibility

Psychologists must accept appropriate responsibility for what is within their power, control or management.

In applying these values, Psychologists should consider:

• Responsible use of their knowledge and skills;

• Respect for the welfare of human, non-humans and the living world;

4. Integrity

Acting with integrity includes being honest, truthful, accurate and consistent in one’s actions, words, decisions, methods and outcomes.

In applying these values, Psychologists should consider:

• Honesty

• Fairness

• Addressing misconduct

Definitions of terms

• ‘Research’ is defined as any form of disciplined enquiry that aims to contribute to a body of knowledge or theory.

• ‘Research ethics’ refers to the moral principles guiding research from its inception through to completion and publication of results.

• ‘Research Ethics Committee (REC)’ refers to a multidisciplinary, independent body responsible for reviewing research proposals involving human participants to ensure that their dignity, rights and welfare are protected.

• ‘Protocol’ refers to a filed document which specifies for a research project the procedures for recruiting participants and gathering and managing data, with which all project staff agree to comply.

• ‘Participant’ It is now common practice to refer to a person who serves as a data source for research as a ‘participant’.

Principles

Research that involves humans addresses a wide range of topics and utilizes many different methodologies. The types and severities of risks associated with human research range widely

1. Respect for the autonomy, privacy and dignity of individuals and communities

- Means that there is a clear duty to participants

- Psychologists respect the knowledge, experience, and expertise of participants and potential participants

- They respect individual, cultural and role differences

- Researchers will respect the privacy of the individuals, and will ensure that individuals are not personally identifiable

2. Scientific Integrity

- Research should be designed, reviewed and conducted in a way that ensures its quality, integrity and contribution to the development of knowledge and understanding.

- Quality relates primarily to the scientific design of the research and the consideration of potential risks of harm and protocols for addressing such difficulties (should they arise)

3. Social Responsibility

- A shared collective duty for the welfare of human beings, both within the societies in which psychology researchers live and work, and beyond them, must be acknowledged by those conducting the research. - - The aim of generating psychological knowledge should be to support beneficial outcomes.

4. Maximizing benefit and minimizing harm

- Psychology researchers should seek to maximize the benefits of their work at all stages, from inception through to dissemination

- Harm to participants must be avoided. Where risks arise as unavoidavle and integral elecment of the research, robust risk assessment and management protocols should be developed and complied with.

- Normally, no risk of harm should be greater than that encountered in ordinary life.

Risk

Risk can be defined as the potential physical or psychological harm, discomfort or stress to human participants that a research project may generate The following research would normally be considered as involving more than minimal risk:

• Research involving vulnerable groups (such as children aged under 16; those lacking capacity; or individuals in a dependent or unequal relationship);

• Research involving potentially sensitive topics (such as participants’ sexual behaviour; their legal or political behaviour; their experience of violence; their gender or ethnic status);

• Research involving a significant and necessary element of deception;

• Research involving access to records of personal or confidential information (including genetic or other biological information);

• Research involving access to potentially sensitive data through third parties (such as employee data);

• Research that could induce psychological stress, anxiety or humiliation or cause more than minimal pain (e.g. repetitive or prolonged testing);

• Research involving invasive interventions (such as the administration of drugs or other substances, vigorous physical exercise or techniques such as hypnosis) that would not usually be encountered during everyday life;

Valid Consent

Researchers should ensure that every person from whom data are gathered for the purposes of research consents freely to the process on the basis of adequate information.

Assessment of Risk

A prior assessment of potential risks should inform the preparation of the information to be given to potential participants and the procedures for seeking consent. This assessment should be used to determine the appropriate form of consent and the nature of any risk management required.

Who can give consent?

The consent of participants in research, whatever their age or competence, should always be sought, by means appropriate to their age and competence level.

For children under 16 years of age and for other persons where capacity to consent may be impaired the additional consent of parents or those with legal responsibility for the individual should normally also be sought.

Informing participants

Giving potential participants sufficient information about the research in an understandable form requires careful drafting of the information sheet.

• The aim(s) of the project.

• The type(s) of data to be collected.

• The method(s) of collecting data.

• Confidentiality and anonymity conditions associated with the data.

• The time commitment expected from participants.

• The right to decline to offer any particular information requested by the researcher.

Confidentiality

Subject to the requirements of legislation information obtained from and about a participant during an investigation is confidential unless otherwise agreed in advance.

Deception

To many outside the psychology profession, and to some within it, the idea of deceiving the participants in research is seen as quite inappropriate.

Since there are very many psychological processes that are modifiable by individuals if they are aware that they are being studied, the statement of the research focus in advance of the collection of data would make much psychological research impossible.

Double blind study

Neither the participants nor the experimenters know who is receiving a particular treatment,

This is utilised to prevent bias in research results

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