The School of Psychology takes the use of ethical guidelines in teaching and research very seriously. Our teaching and research is guided by the University’s ethical guidelines, the University’s regulations on plagiarism, and the BPS (British Psychological Society) ethical guidelines.

• School of Psychology Ethics Procedures
• The University’s Ethical Guidelines.
• University Regulations on Plagiarism.
• BPS Code of Ethics and Conduct August 2009
• Code of Human Research Ethics (pdf)

For working with or doing research with animals, special populations or using particular research methods, please consult the BPS ethics webpage for researchers:

Applications for ethical approval are based on the following forms:

• Ethical Approval Form – Library-Desk-Lab-Studio-based Research Projects
• Ethical Approval Form - Human Research Projects
• Ethical Approval Form - Animal Research Projects
  

In order to guarantee an efficient processing of the forms at the Departmental level, please make sure that:

1. electronic copies of the forms are sent to evanderzee@lincoln.ac.uk

2. apart from a correctly filled in form, all supporting materials are sent with the form (e.g., a brief, a debrief, a consent form, a particular test used, an information sheet with contact phone numbers that is given to participants, any letters sent out to participants or their guardians, etc.)

3. changes are made to the form on the basis of the ethics committee's feedback as soon as possible

The following is an example of an ethics application in which both adults and children are tested. If you only test adults, it will be enough to only look at the first four files and the last file. If you only test children, please have a look at the first file and last four files. If you test both adults and children, please have a look at all files:

Ethics form perspective selection project

Participant information sheet for adult participant perspective selection project

Consent form perspective selection project for adults

Debrief of the perspective selection project

School letter perspective selection project

Participant information sheet for parents and children perspective selection project

Consent form perspective selection project for children

A major revision of the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory

The following has to be submitted with your Ethics Application from December 2011:

Possible Ethical Issues

(1) Are all of the parties involved in / affected by the research project identified?o

(2) Autonomy:

Do participants have all of the required information? o                                                           

Is all of the information you require from the participants appropriate? o                  

Are participants told that their participation is voluntary? o                                                     

Do all relevant parties give consent (in writing)? o                                                                  

Is consent obtained for being observed/video taped/audio taped? o                                      

Are participants given the option of omitting information/answers to questions? o                

Was consent appropriate (children, those mentally/physically incapacitated)? o                   

Are those with diminished autonomy appropriately protected?o                                           

Is data withdrawal explicitly guaranteed (and are limits appropriately specified)?  o                 

(3) Beneficence:

Does participant / science / society benefit? o                                                                        

(4) Non-maleficance:

Is care (to counter physical/psychological discomfort) guaranteed during testing? o             

Is after-care (possible consequences of your research) guaranteed if necessary? o           

Is deception part of your design? o                                                                                           

Is confidentiality explicitly guaranteed (note that confidentiality ≠ anonymity!)? o                   

Are all legal issues covered (who is liable, who has intellectual property rights, etc.)? o       

Are all other consequences covered (write-up (plagiarism), data protection, etc.)? o             

(5) Justice:

Are data stored appropriately (handling and storage time (> 8 years))? o                             

Are participants debriefed?  o                                                                                                  

Are participants rewarded (in the same way; within School rules)? o                                    

Checking whether the form is filled in appropriately

(a) are all ethical issues identified (see above)? o                                                              

(b) are mechanisms reported to address relevant issues? o                             

(c) are research design, method and responsibilities of involved parties clear? o                   

(d) is information about those tested clear (age group, special population, number, etc.)? o

(e) is scientific context, including referencing, clear? o                                                            

(f) is writing (spelling, sentence structure, etc) clear? o                                                           

(g) are recruitment details / test environment details clear? o                                              

(h) are all necessary accompanying documents (letters, consent, debrief, etc.) included? o

A MS Word version of the above checklist can be downloaded here.

The School teaches ethics at several places in the course programme.

In our BSc programmes:

In agreement with the subject specific benchmark criteria as formulated by the QAA, students are made aware of ethical issues associated with different methodologies, paradigms and methods of analysis in psychology. Also, in agreement with the benchmark criteria for the accredited Qualifying Exam as validated by the British Psychological Society (BPS), the teaching includes:

• the origins of ethical issues for psychology; moral underpinning of the theory, research and practice of psychology; psychologists and community members as partners in the construction of ethically responsible practises, and

• the ethics of research with humans and animals

The above components are incorporated in the teaching at all levels, although mainly in Research Skills Units at levels 1 and 2, the Tutorial system in year 1, Philosophy of Science at level 2, and Independent Study at level 3. E.g., the Independent Study guidelines explicitly ask students to check their project against the Ethical Principles for Conducting Research with Human Participants as issued by the BPS, to check their project against the Ethical Principles for Conducting Research with Humans and other Animals as issued by the University, to complete the appropriate university ethics from about their project that should be signed by themselves and their supervisor, and are made aware by their supervisor that if there are ethical issues with their research project that they should in the first instance apply for ethics approval with the Departmental Ethics Committee. Students are required to have an ‘Ethics’ section in their Independent Study in which they address the ethical aspects that are relevant for their study.

The School of Psychology also operates a subject pool scheme: students in years 1 and 2 receive credits for participating in experiments carried out by year 3 students and by staff. As part of the subject pool guidelines all students participating in the scheme are given information about the ethical requirements of research projects (e.g. what it means to sign an informed consent form, and what a debrief from is/should contain).

In our MSc programmes:

The MSc in Child Studies contains a 15 credit point module called ‘Ethics’. This unit considers ethical theories, recent developments in the field, the development of ethical principles in children, and the application of ethical theories to psychological testing and in working with children. Apart from this specialist module, ethical issues are addressed throughout the programme.

The MSc in Forensic Psychology integrates the teaching of ethics across all modules, addressing issues such as 'is possible to obtain informed consent from people who are detained' and 'ethical dilemmas in undertaking risk assessments and the testing of sex offenders'.