Paper Sample on Deception in Psychological Research

Introduction

Researchers must adhere to ethics guiding researches when in the field. The ethics are primarily to protect the research participants from harm and increase the credibility of the data and information that is collected. The purpose of ethics is also to protect the reputation of psychology and the psychologists themselves (Boynton et al., 2013). In the process of respecting and preserving the dignity of the research participants, researchers have to abide by specific moral principles and rules of conduct. Deception in research involves the deliberate withholding of information and giving false one to human participants researchers mislead or wrongly inform people about the true nature of a situation.

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Research Situation

Deception is acceptable in research. However, it is only employed where there are no suitable procedures to extract information. Deception is found useful by the researchers when a situation is unavoidable and is required by the researchers to be done within a specified time. It is also acceptable when the benefits are much as compared to the risks. For exempt status, any research that involves deception has always been branded ineligible. However, mild deception or disclosure that is incomplete or a deception that is mild in a situation where the topic is not sensitive, and the participants are not vulnerable may be considered.

Ethical Principles

Some of the ethical principles in support of the above include explanation of any form of deception that forms an integral feature of the design and the conduct of the experiment. The above should be channeled to the participants in the formative stages of the conclusion of their participation and not during the conclusion of data collection (Tai, 2012). It is done with the ability of the participants to withdraw data they feel is inappropriate. There is also the principle of protection of the participants against any form of harm. Here, researchers do not deceive participants concerning studies that are associated with the physical pain of severe emotional distress. Thirdly, there is the principle of justification of other deception. Researchers are not encouraged to conduct research that involves deception unless it can be proven that its significant prospect is educational, scientific, or it has an applied value and is effective in terms of alternative procedures.

Conclusion

An example of the use of deception is when a researcher asks subjects to take part in a quiz in an environment that has a lot of noise concerning a particular topic but, the participants have not been informed that the noise is capable of affecting their concentration during the session. The participants can also be asked to read a list of words or rather view a pattern of images but, the researchers have concealed the fact that they are preventing them from knowing that their memories are being tested for a specific purpose. The above is deception because the participants have been coaxed into acting without their own will and knowledge.

References

Boynton, M. H., Portnoy, D. B., & Johnson, B. T. (2013). Exploring the ethics and psychological impact of deception in psychological research. IRB, 35(2), 7.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4502434/

Tai, M. C. T. (2012). Deception and informed consent in social, behavioral, and educational research (SBER). Tzu Chi Medical Journal, 24(4), 218-222.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1016319012000468