PSY1023 Chap.2 Ethical Research Principles and Practice
Ethical Research Principles and Practice
Week 2 turns from how we know things to how we are allowed to find them out. Ethics in psychological research covers any study involving people or animals, including projects that never meet a participant face to face but still use someone’s data or biological samples.
The unit treats ethics as practical knowledge rather than background reading, because every group in the unit runs its own qualitative interviews later in semester and has to treat classmates as genuine research participants.
The history matters because modern rules were written in response to real harm.
The Tuskegee Syphilis Study, which started in 1932 and lasted roughly forty years, deceived Black men and denied them treatment. Experiments under the Nazi regime prompted the Nuremberg Code of 1947, the Declaration of Helsinki came in 1964, and the Belmont Report in 1978. Knowing this sequence helps you explain why ethics committees exist and why consent is treated so seriously.
The unit also asks why such breaches happen, pointing to power dynamics, deception, an inability to consent, and prejudice such as racism, sexism, homophobia and classism.
In Australia, research is governed by the Australian Code on responsible research conduct, the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research and a separate code for animal research.
Human Research Ethics Committees review proposals, and their main purpose is to protect participants’ welfare and rights. The unit presents the National Statement as five principles: integrity, autonomy, beneficence, justice and respect.
You will also meet the Belmont Report’s three parts of informed consent and the sections a good explanatory statement contains, from risks and benefits through to confidentiality, data storage and support resources.
The second half of the week widens the lens.
Some groups are more vulnerable than others, including children, people in unequal relationships, people with cognitive impairment and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. Decolonising research means sharing power through co-design and following the AIATSIS Code. Research integrity is threatened by fabrication, falsification and plagiarism, and open science is one response.
Finally, the unit distinguishes ethics, which are external standards, from morality, which is personal, and asks you to reflect on where the two meet. That reflection is useful well beyond this week, because a code can permit something you still find uncomfortable, and a careful researcher notices the tension instead of hiding behind the rule.
What this chapter covers
- 01
What research ethics covers and why it matters
- 02
Historical breaches and the codes that followed
- 03
Australian ethical framework and ethics committees
- 04
National Statement principles as presented in the unit
- 05
Informed consent and the explanatory statement
- 06
Vulnerable populations and decolonising research
- 07
Research integrity, misconduct and open science
Worked example · free
Drafting two sections of an explanatory statement
- 1Name the realistic psychological risk in plain words: talking about loneliness may bring up sad or uncomfortable feelings, and say how likely this is (mild and usually temporary).
- 1State the inconveniences honestly: the time the interview takes, any travel to the garden, and whether the team may contact the volunteer again.
- 1Explain what the participant can do in the moment: skip any question, pause, or stop the interview without giving a reason.
- 1Confirm the right to withdraw, including asking for unpublished data to be removed, with no penalty.
- 1In the support section, say when, where and how to get help: a counselling line, a local health service, and the research team’s contact for questions.
Key terms
- Research Ethics
- A set of standards for how research involving people or animals should morally be carried out, including studies that only use people’s data or biological samples.
- Human Research Ethics Committee
- An independent review body whose primary role is protecting the welfare and rights of research participants; each member judges a proposal without outside influence.
- Beneficence
- The principle that participants face no undue risk and that any potential harm is outweighed by the benefits of the research.
- Informed Consent
- Agreement to take part that rests on full information, genuine comprehension and voluntariness, free of coercion or undue influence.
- Explanatory Statement
- The plain-language document that gives participants the study’s purpose, risks, benefits, confidentiality, data storage and support details before they decide.
- Falsification
- A form of research misconduct involving manipulation of materials, equipment or processes, or changing or omitting data so results are misrepresented.
Ethical Research Principles and Practice FAQ
Why does the unit spend a week on research history?
Modern ethical codes were written in response to real abuses. The Nuremberg Code of 1947 followed wartime experiments, and the Belmont Report of 1978 followed further unethical studies, so the history explains why committees and consent rules exist today.
Is the National Statement really five principles?
The unit presents it as integrity, autonomy, beneficence, justice and respect. The National Statement itself frames its values as research merit and integrity, justice, beneficence and respect, so learn the unit list for your tasks and recognise the official wording too.
What is the difference between ethics and morality?
Ethics are external standards such as codes and committee rules, while morality is a personal, individual sense of right and wrong. Reflexive practice helps you notice when a code permits something you find wrong, or when a rule feels uncomfortable but protects participants.
Who counts as a vulnerable population in research?
The unit lists groups such as children, pregnant women, people in unequal relationships, people with cognitive impairment or disabilities, people in medical care unable to consent, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. These groups need extra safeguards because consent or power can be compromised.
How does open science relate to research fraud?
Open science makes methods, data and plans visible to other researchers. The unit pairs it with fraud because transparent work is much harder to fabricate or falsify, and it lets others check whether reported results actually follow from the data collected.
Assessment move
Start by building a one-page timeline from memory: Tuskegee from 1932, the Nazi-era experiments, the Nuremberg Code in 1947, the Declaration of Helsinki in 1964 and the Belmont Report in 1978. Beside each entry write one line on what went wrong or what the document added.
Next, learn the five principles as the unit presents them, but practise them as verbs: for each principle, write what a researcher actually does on interview day to honour it. Then take an ordinary study idea of your own and stress-test it. Ask who might feel unable to say no, what harm could arise, whether anyone is being left out, and what the explanatory statement would need to say.
This turns a list into judgement, which is what your group needs when it prepares its own interviews. Spend a separate session on misconduct and decolonising research. Write a short invented case for each of fabrication, falsification and plagiarism and check that you can tell them apart. For decolonising, practise explaining in two sentences why co-design shares power and what the AIATSIS Code is for.
Finally, link the week to your Critical Reflection: think about where your own sense of right and wrong comes from, and how it might differ from formal ethical standards. Keep these notes, because the explanatory statement and consent form you prepare later in the unit rely directly on this week’s ideas.
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