Loftus and Palmer

Authors Avatar

Psychology

Objective – Examine the ethical issues in the study by Loftus and Palmer.

To debate on the ethical issues in this study.

Task 1-

Pick any two ethical issues and discuss them. Give examples for each.

Task 2-

Outline any ethical issues found in the study conducted by Loftus and Palmer.

Task 1-

Right to Withdraw

        Right to withdraw means that the participant may choose to leave or “withdraw” from the experiment at any given point of time. It is entirely their choice and they must not be forced into completing the experiment. The participants’ reason to withdraw may vary from personal family emergency to objecting to what the experiment is testing.

Join now!

        For example:

There is an experiment conducted which is taking place. Jane has decided to volunteer for it. This experiment is testing the effect that caffeine has on the brain. Halfway through the experiment Jane feels drowsy and asks to leave. Jane reserves the “right to withdraw” and is therefore allowed to leave.

Sophie signs up at a local university as a volunteer for a psychological experiment. However, the next day she discovers the experiment is being held in a different city. She has no available transport and has the “right to withdraw” therefore she takes her name off ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

Here's what a star student thought of this essay

Avatar

Tghe Quality of Written Communication is excellent. Not a single spelling mistake is made, nor a grammatical error or a misuse of punctuation.

The Level of Analysis does stick to the bare minimum required to answer the question for top marks, and the response does feel very regimented (this is probably how candidates are expected to answer) and thus, whilst it may appear that the candidate is regurgitating text book knowledge, there is clear evidence they understand the case study given (Loftus & Palmer's study into the reliability of memory reconstruction) and the importance of ethical regard in psychological research. Task 1 provides a good range of examples to illustrate the ethical issues they make, remembering to use approopriate terminology when required (Equitable Treatment, Right to Withdraw), putting each example in real life context so that even those who do not have a great awareness of Psychoplogical Research are able to understand these ethical issues. Task 2 could be more detailed, such as explaining, prior to any evaluation of ethical regard, what the study entails. Doing this shows examiners that candidates are aware of what the whole study was aiming to investiage, rather than the one piece of infomration required to answer the proposed question, e.g. - "Protection of participants is a core ethical issue which is violated in the study conducted by Loftus and Palmer" instead could be: "Protection of participants is a core ethical issue which is violated in the study conducted by Loftus and Palmer's study in the reliability of memory reconstruction in eye-witness testimony" (this is an example of where the candidate could've improved their answer, just to set themselves ahead of the rest of top mark achievers).

A very systematic response, this essay excels in it's Response to the Question because the candidate has structured the answer so clearly and so effectively that it becomes very obvious that they possess both the knowledge to answer the proposed question as well as the writing skills and essay ability to express that knowledge well.