Confidentiality: The ethical principle that provides that any information obtained by a professional in confidence is not disclosed to any other parties without the consent of the client involved. When conducting research studies, information that is collected must be relevant and be reported on in a manner in which the participant's identities are not revealed.
Voluntary Participation: The researcher/s must endeavour to ensure that all participants are given the choice of whether to be involved or not. Potential participants should not feel pressured into partaking in the research.
Informed Consent Procedures: If possible participants in research studies must be informed of the nature of the investigation, and of its purpose and/or intent. This information must be well documented (eg. signing a consent form) alongside the details of any procedures that will be undertaken and the physical and emotional effects that are predicted to occur. In studies where there is an unnatural level of emotional stress, researchers must ensure that no psychologically vulnerable people are involved. If participants are under the legal age of consent, the consent of their legal guardian must be obtained for them to partake in the studies.
Withdrawal Rights: The researcher/s must provide information as to the nature of the research, (see informed consent procedures) and also allow participants to withdraw their participation at any time.
Deception in Research: In some cases providing the participants with all of the information about what the studies will involve could have an adverse effect on the results and/or functioning of the research study, in these cases a certain level of deception is allowed, however the researcher/s must ensure that the participants suffer no undue physical or psychological effect as a result of this deception and that they are fully debriefed at the conclusion of the research.
