What ethical issues must psychologists consider in their research?
Research ethics: the British Psychological Society guidelines including consent, deception, protection from harm, confidentiality and the right to withdraw, and how reliability and validity are assessed.
A focused answer to AQA GCSE Psychology 3.4, covering the British Psychological Society ethical guidelines (consent, deception, protection from harm, confidentiality and the right to withdraw) and how reliability and validity are assessed.
Reviewed by: AI editorial process; not yet individually human-reviewed
Have a quick question? Jump to the Q&A page
Jump to a section
What this dot point is asking
AQA wants you to describe the British Psychological Society (BPS) ethical guidelines (consent, deception, protection from harm, confidentiality and the right to withdraw), explain how researchers deal with ethical issues, and explain how reliability and validity are assessed. These ideas are applied to study scenarios across both papers, including the social-influence studies.
The BPS ethical guidelines
- Informed consent: participants should agree to take part knowing what the study involves; for children, consent comes from a parent or guardian.
- Deception: participants should not be misled about the study unless it is unavoidable; if deception is used it must be minimised and followed by a full debrief.
- Protection from harm: participants should not be exposed to more physical or psychological risk than in everyday life, and distress must be avoided or addressed.
- Confidentiality: participants' data and identities must be kept private, usually by keeping data anonymous.
- Right to withdraw: participants can leave the study at any time and withdraw their data, without pressure to continue.
Dealing with ethical issues
Reliability and validity
Reliability means consistency: a reliable measure gives the same results when repeated under the same conditions, and reliability can be checked by repeating the procedure (test-retest) to see if the results match. Validity means accuracy: a valid measure actually measures what it is supposed to measure, and a valid study allows genuine conclusions. Ecological validity is whether the findings apply to real-life settings. Crucially, a study can be reliable but not valid (consistently measuring the wrong thing), so both must be assessed.
Try this
Q1. Name three BPS ethical guidelines. [3 marks]
- Cue. Any three of: informed consent, deception, protection from harm, confidentiality, right to withdraw.
Q2. Define reliability. [1 mark]
- Cue. Consistency: a study gives the same results when repeated under the same conditions.
Q3. Explain how a debrief deals with the issue of deception. [2 marks]
- Cue. It explains the true aim afterwards and lets participants withdraw their data, so they leave fully informed.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of AQA exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
AQA 20184 marksA study deceived participants about its true aim and caused some of them distress. Explain how the researcher could deal with these two ethical issues. (Paper 1, Section D)Show worked answer →
An applied 4-mark item that rewards naming each issue and a workable way to deal with it.
Deception: where deception is unavoidable, the researcher should keep it to a minimum and fully debrief participants afterwards, explaining the true aim and offering the chance to withdraw their data, so they leave informed. Protection from harm: the researcher should ensure participants are not exposed to more risk than in everyday life, stop the study if distress occurs, and offer support or counselling in the debrief; ideally the study design should be changed to avoid the distress in the first place.
Markers reward identifying each ethical issue and giving a relevant way of dealing with it (debriefing for deception, minimising and monitoring harm plus support for protection from harm).
AQA 20213 marksExplain the difference between reliability and validity. (Paper 1, Section D)Show worked answer →
A 3-mark Explain item rewards a definition of each and the contrast.
Reliability is about consistency: a measure or study is reliable if it produces the same results when repeated under the same conditions (for example, a memory test giving similar scores on re-testing). Validity is about accuracy: a measure or study is valid if it actually measures what it claims to measure (for example, a test of memory genuinely testing memory rather than reading speed). The key difference is consistency versus accuracy, and a study can be reliable (consistent) without being valid (accurate).
Markers reward both definitions and the contrast (consistency versus measuring what is intended), ideally noting that reliability does not guarantee validity.
Related dot points
- Experiments and variables: independent and dependent variables, the hypothesis, experimental designs, extraneous variables, and laboratory, field and natural experiments.
A focused answer to AQA GCSE Psychology 3.4, covering independent and dependent variables, hypotheses, experimental designs, extraneous variables, and laboratory, field and natural experiments.
- Sampling methods: the target population and sample, random, opportunity, systematic and stratified sampling, and their strengths and weaknesses for representativeness.
A focused answer to AQA GCSE Psychology 3.4, covering the target population and sample, random, opportunity, systematic and stratified sampling, and their strengths and weaknesses for representativeness.
- Types of data: quantitative and qualitative data, primary and secondary data, the use of measures of central tendency (mean, median, mode) and ways of displaying data.
A focused answer to AQA GCSE Psychology 3.4, covering quantitative and qualitative data, primary and secondary data, the measures of central tendency (mean, median and mode) and ways of displaying data.
- Obedience: Milgram's agency theory, the factors affecting obedience (proximity, location and uniform), and dispositional factors such as the authoritarian personality.
A focused answer to AQA GCSE Psychology 3.5, covering obedience, Milgram's agency theory, the factors affecting obedience (proximity, location and uniform) and dispositional factors such as the authoritarian personality.
Sources & how we know this
- AQA GCSE Psychology (8182) specification — AQA (2017)