 Participants are formally asked to indicate their agreement to participate  They should be informed on the purpose of the experiment and their rights  If participants are still unaware of what they are involved in, this could affect their behavior and therefore skew the results.

Covert Observation Overt Observation  The researcher does not inform the participants that they are being observed. These are usually used with groups that would be hostile with an outside intrusion; for example, drug users or street gangs. Usually the researcher must also gain the trust of the group but unlike over observations they do not know they are being observed, making it hard for the researcher to take notes. This means they must commit more details directly to memory which could possibly be distorted.  The participants know that they are being studied. This means that the observer must gain the participants trust. When observing subjects, it is unethical to observe them without their previous consent. This must always be considered in an experiment in which data is collected through observation of the subject.

 Deception prevents participants from giving informed consent.  If observing a group covertly, some deception must be used.  Example: Leon Festinger et al.'s When Prophecy Fails (1956) Study - The researchers covertly joined a religious cult that believed the world would end on December 21 st, and when the catastrophes begin, flying saucers would come to pick them up - In order to gain access to the group they must have first deceived them by not telling them they are researchers who aim to study them. By modern research standards the mentioned study would not be considered ethically valid.  Costs should be weighed against benefits

 When writing up results, names should not be collected. They should be replaced with numbers or variables, or put into groups indicated by letters or numbers.  In some situations, it is not appropriate to observe people in a public space, such as two lovers on a bench.

 When participants do not know they are being observed it is impossible for them to withdraw from a study.  Philip Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment - a study of the psychological effects of becoming a prisoner or prison guard - Twelve students were selected out of 75 to play the prisoners and live in a mock prison in the basement of the Stanford psychology building. Another twelve of the same 75 were selected to play the Guards. Roles were assigned randomly to the 24 men. - leading the officers to display authoritarian measures and ultimately to subject some of the prisoners to torture. In turn, many of the prisoners developed passive attitudes and accepted physical abuse, and, at the request of the guards, readily inflicted punishment on other prisoners who attempted to stop it. - The experiment even affected Zimbardo himself, who, in his capacity as Prison Superintendent, lost sight of his role as psychologist and permitted the abuse to continue as though it were a real prison.

 While this is one of the most important ethical guidelines to follow, it hardly ever a true concern in most experiments  Going back to the Stanford Prison Experiment, it was said that the experiment was supposed to last for 2 weeks, but it was cancelled after only 6 days. -Through the corruption of power of the guards physical and mental harm came about the experiment - Although the guards were not malicious people, the role that they played overcame them and resulted in physical and mental harm to the “prisoners”

 Participants must be informed of the true aim of the study when the experiment is complete  This is used to restore the participant to the state he/she was before the experiment  It is unethical to let a participant leave after an experiment without informing them of the aim.

 notes/sociocultural-level-of-analysis/ notes/sociocultural-level-of-analysis/   Book