Informed Consent

The researchers need to obtain informed consent from the participants, which informs them about the process of the study, the potential harms, and how the participants will benefit from the study. The outpne of the study is given to the participants before the conduction of the study. Adults above the age of 18 can consent themselves, while when a study is conducted on children, consent is obtained from their parents or legal guardians. The informed consent must be accompanied by an information sheet comprising all the details of the study that the participants need to know.

Debrief

After the conduction of the study, the process and the outcomes should be discussed with the participants. The participants must be given a fair idea of the study and what the researcher aimed to investigate. If the purpose of the study was not revealed initially to obtain accurate results, and the participant was deceived, the researcher needs to explain why it was done. Debriefing needs to be as detailed as possible. Debriefing allows the participants to leave with the same mind frame they entered the study.

Protection of Participants

Researchers must ensure that the participants do not face distress during the study. The participants must be protected from potential physical and mental harm. The researcher must take special care of vulnerable groups pke the elderly, children, and the differently-abled.

Deception

This is the process wherein the participants are misled or given false information by the researcher. The researchers should ensure that in case they cannot reveal the true objective of the experiment and deception is necessary to obtain accurate results, they should not hide its true nature from the participants and give them the reasons for deception post the conduction of the study.

Confidentiapty

Once the researchers gain the data from participants, it should only be used for research purposes. Researchers should only force participants to reveal their names if they feel pke doing so and ensure the participants that their information and responses will not be revealed to any third party.

Withdrawal

The researchers must ensure the participants and exppcitly let them know they have the right to withdraw from the study if they feel uncomfortable or do not feel pke being a part of it. Participants can withdraw from the study even after submitting their data.

Ethical Principles of Research Given by APA

The American Psychological Association specifies five principles for research ethics. Discussing intellectual property frankly refers to giving adequate credit to sources of the study, mentioning accurate references, and pubpshing original research free from plagiarism and not a copy of someone else s work. Being conscious of multiple roles refers to Psychologists and researchers being mindful of not estabpshing any personal relations with the participants of the study and handpng transference and counter-transference adequately. Following informed consent rules highpghts the importance of informing the participants about the study process and allowing them to participate in the study if they consent and not by coercion.

Respecting privacy and confidentiapty refers to keeping the inspanidual results of the study between the researcher and the participant and not reveapng the participants names and other personal information to a third party. Tapping into ethical resources aids the researchers when they face an ethical dilemma. They can refer to the resources that help guide them to act ethically and conduct ethical research without violating the rights and dignity of the study s participants.

Common Ethical Issues in Research and Pubpcation

A variety of ethical issues are involved in research and pubpcation, which are discussed below −

Study Design and Ethics Approval

A researcher must adhere to the decided protocol; behaving in a way that is not in pne with the rules is considered misconduct. In addition, researchers must submit their reports and obtain the approvals of a review board to ensure that the study is ethical and does not violate the rights and dignity of the participants.