Psychology -Unit 1 Lesson 4 Ethics and Bias in Experimental Research

Explain why a system of ethics is necessary for psychological research.

-The goal of psychologists is to help people. This sytem or standard of ethics prevents scientists fro doing experiments or treatments that may harm the human participants. The standars promote individual dignity, uphold human well being, and maintain scientific integrity. -established by the American Psychological Association gives psychologists a standard for proper behavior. These standards promote the dignity of research participants and clients, foster human welfare, and maintain scientific integrity.

Explain the purposes of single-blind and double-blind studies and how they work.

-The purpose of these studies is to prevent bias in the results. If a participant/researcher knows they are receiving the treatment and really want it to work think the may think it is working. Expectations can create bias in participants and researchers. In a single-blind study the participant doesn't know if they are in the control group or experimental group, however the researcher and experiment organizer do. In a double-blind study only the experiment organizer knows who received the treatment-the participants and researcher don't know. -used to counteract the placebo effect. In a single-blind study, participants do not know if they are in the experimental group or the control group. In a double-blind study, neither the participants nor the researchers know which group is the experimental group and which is the control group. This helps prevent researchers' expectations from influencing their findings.

central tendency

The mean, median, and mode

experimental group

in a study, the participants who receive the treatment

Confidentiality

Participants' or clients' right to privacy

standard deviation

a measure of distance of every score to the mean

single-blind study

a study in which the participants are unaware of whether they are in the control or experimental group.

double-blind study

an experiment in which neither the participant nor the researcher knows whether the patient has received the treatment or the placebo

placebo

an inert substance used in controlled experiments to test the effectiveness of another substance

control group

in an experiment, the group that does not receive the treatment

Ethics

rules and standards for proper and responsible behavior