Ethics, including the role of the British Psychological Society’s code of…

The idea

The British Psychological Society's Code of Ethics rests on four principles: respect, competence, responsibility and integrity. From these stem key ethical issues in study design: informed consent, deception, protection from harm, privacy, confidentiality, and the right to withdraw. Dealing with ethical issues requires specific remedies. Consent is gained via a form detailing the study, or through presumptive consent if full disclosure would ruin it. Deception and distress are addressed by a full debrief, offering to withdraw data, and counselling. Confidentiality uses numbers instead of names. An ethics committee weighs likely benefits against costs before approving research.

What earns the marks

• Names the code and at least one of its principles of respect, competence, responsibility and integrity.
• Identifies the specific ethical issue raised by the study in the question.
• Describes the matching way of dealing with it, such as informed consent forms, presumptive consent, debriefing, or the right to withdraw.
• Explains confidentiality and anonymity in practical terms, for example identifying participants by number.
• Evaluates using a cost-benefit judgement, referring to ethics committees or a named study such as Milgram's.

Common mistakes and how to put them right

• Naming an issue and then repeating it as the solution, for instance 'the issue is deception, so do not deceive them'.

• Assuming a debrief undoes psychological harm, rather than limiting it.

• Confusing confidentiality, protecting data, with anonymity, not collecting identities in the first place.

• Writing about ethics in general when the question asks for the issue raised by the described procedure.

Exam tips

• When asked how to deal with an ethical issue, provide a concrete procedure: detail exactly what is written on the consent form or what is said in the debrief.
• Anchor the answer to the stem's participants, especially where children or vulnerable groups need parental consent.
• Keep a cost-benefit sentence in reserve, because these questions are often part of a wider evaluation.