Ethical Considerations
American Psychological Association
APA Code of Ethics
In compliance with the APA code of ethics, there are five principles to apply when conducting research which we kept in close consideration throughout this project (Young, 2017). These are:
Fidelity and Responsibility
Psychologists have a moral obligation to support efforts to uphold high ethical standards among those employed in the field. The ethical behaviour and compliance of psychologists could be improved through participation in activities such as partaking in peer
reviews and mentoring.
Integrity
Psychologists should never attempt to misrepresent or lie in their research or clinical work. Psychologists should also aim for openness and honesty in their practice.
Respect for people's rights and Dignity
The integrity, confidentiality, and anonymity of those working with psychologists professionally should be respected. Psychologists should work to reduce their own biases and be conscious of issues with
diversity and the needs of specific populations.
Beneficence and Non-Maleficence
The rights and welfare of those with whom psychologists interact professionally should be upheld. Psychologists should make an effort to get
rid of any prejudices, affiliations, and biases
that might affect
their work.
Justice
Psychologists should treat all people equally. It is the duty of psychologists to act fairly and impartially. Additionally, the principle asserts that everyone has a right to access and profit from advancements made
in psychology.
The Project
Ethics within our Project
Our project is based on the idea of teaching children more about nature and the integration of technology within that education. However, children are a vulnerable population and therefore it would be difficult to get ethical approval for our project if we were to use them as participants (Antle, 2017).
Instead, we used teachers and parents as they have a close affiliation with children and know and understand their wants and needs.
The Department
Our Ethical Route
In line with the IADT Psychology Ethics Committee (PEC) rules at Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design, and Technology, we had to gain institutional approval in order to go ahead with our project.
We sent in our ethics application stating that our project fell under ethical considerations that the college labels as an ‘amber route’. An ‘amber route’ project is one that has direct interaction with participants but there are no additional ethical considerations beyond the bare minimum.
The Testing
Ethics in User Testing
When user testing it was important to maintain all the ethical considerations mentioned above. So, in order to maintain the highest ethical standards, participants were given an information sheet, a consent form, a debrief form, and once the interview was over, they were given another consent form as confirmation of consent for data use.
Throughout the entirety of this, participants were reminded that they were free to withdraw from the study at any time and without reason.
