Ethical Guidelines
In many of our psychology courses, research using human subjects is required as a course assignment. Psyc 101, 230 (Cognitive Psyc), 204 (Child Development), & many Psyc 100 sections require you to conduct labs or research projects. In Psyc 212 (Research Methods) you must design & carry out original research.
As you are doing research with human participants, it is imperative that you abide by Capilano College's and by CPA's (Canadian Psychological Association) ethical guidelines for research.
APA has defined 3 ethical principles that guide the APA ethics code for research with human subjects:
Beneficence: the principle that we should maximize benefits & minimize any harmful effects, including physical harm, stress, & loss of privacy & confidentiality. This principle requires a risk-benefit analysis as part of your research ethics.
Respect for persons: we must obtain voluntary & informed consent to participate in the research study. To do so we should provide all information that might influence a subject's decision to participate, & avoid coercion of any sort. If deception is involved, we should debrief.
Justice: In selecting subjects, we should consider equity & fairness in receiving the benefits & bearing the burden of the risks. For example, we should not unfairly target segments of the population to be subjects of risky research.
The researcher & the subjects have an implied contract, which the researcher has a commitment to fulfil. If you commit to sending participants a copy of your study, for example, you must fulfil your agreement.
As a student, your research projects must be approved by your instructor. An Ethics Checklist prepared by Dr. Cara Zaskow for Student Investigators is important to review, to make sure you are abiding by all ethical guidelines.
A primary imperative is to obtain informed consent. A sample introduction & consent form has been prepared by Dr. Cara Zaskow. It can be read aloud to subjects or given to subjects to read.