Introduction
Psychological research extends the territory of psychology by contributing to the social order through the invention of original theories on individual conduct, progress, and intellect. Psychological researchers use humans and animals as specimens thus calling for the role of ethics in ensuring justice and dignity towards the study matters.
Ethics requires that a researcher follow laid down regulations in the conduct of research, ensuring conscience and allegiance to professionalism. Wide consultations, literature reviews, and omission reviews boards of research proposals characterize ethically sound psychological research.
How ethics influence Psychological Research
Risk analysis on the intended research activity is necessary to weigh the total benefits and risks of the proposed study to the subjects in terms of privacy and nurturing the reputation psychology as a profession. Some research problems pose multifaceted methodological and ethical challenges that warrant an overhaul of the existing ethical procedures in psychological research (Stanley, Sieber & Nelton, 1996).
Most of the ethical guidelines revolve around informed consent, confidentiality, and consequences and the responsibility of the researcher. Informed consent involves the question of sufficient information and when appropriate.
Complete information on the purpose and design of research proposal counteracts deception of the participants (Willig &Rogers, 2008).Confidentiality ensures that any data about individual are completely blinded to the last information product to be published. The uncertainties in every research deserve elimination, be they quantitative or qualitative.
These reservations, can applied as framework in the drafting of research protocols. Submission of qualitative study to ethical review committees makes researchers internalize the values, issues, and ethical dilemmas in his/her project.
There are various categories of psychology focusing on different ethical issues. In experimental psychology, ethics tend to protect subjects used in laboratory-based research, usually living study subjects. Conversely, critical psychological approaches do develop on the specific ethics in psychology, psychologists, as well as knowledge in psychology (Willig & Rogers, 2008).
Another imperative aspect is the experts and psychological approaches. Ethics allows for standardization of research process by ensuring values and facts form the benchmarks of any research work. During the choice of research topic, formulation of the design, collection, and analysis of relevant data, explanation, and distribution of the findings, ethics outlines the right traits of a researcher.
Furthermore, ethics elaborates how to treat research subjects with dignity and justice, giving investigation a wide acceptability from the subjects and society in general.
Critical psychology gives a broad view of the role of ethics in psychology. It argues that ethics do not only play part in practical research but also in political arenas. Politics touches on all most segments of human life and sometimes can be very emotive and this calls for ethical considerations when dealing with a society guided by norms and values.
Conclusion
Ethical considerations give research participants a chance to explain what a research purpose and methodologies involves, together with the use of deception.
It also outlines how to deal with any possible negative effects the research has had on participants and rationally allowed to give informed consent to undertake, portraying aspect of fairness and keeping at bay cases of deceptions. Legitimate social-psychological research can help propose facts to help society and individuals make decisions about moral or ethical questions.
Scientists often differ about the application of research findings in the society; each one of them is therefore at his or her discretion to judge how such findings can best serve society. This is how ethics guides the researchers to apply what is positive to the society regarding findings of a research activity.
References
Stanley, B., Sieber, J. $ Nelton, G. (1996). Research ethics: a psychological approach. New York, NY: University of Nebraska Press
Willig, C. & Rogers, W. (2008). The SAGE handbook of qualitative research in psychology. London: SAGE.