Ethics in psychological research lesson: research methods

A comprehensive pack of resources to successfully teach ‘ethical issues’ as part of research methods.

I teach ethical issues first to my new year 12 students - as such this resource is designed to both teach content but also act as an icebreaker and opportunity to discuss a range of research (to help students understand what psychology is all about).

If you do not start with research methods - the resources and lesson plan can be adapted easily and delivered in a shorter time period.

I’ve developed this resource over a few years and it is always a hit with students and I find it to be a really effective way to start the course.

**The following is included in this resource: **

1. Lesson plan - outline of how and when I use the activities

2. PowerPoint 1 - for the first lesson - including a starter question to initiate some discussion.

3. Ethic card task and student handout: I use this as an icebreaker but can also be used later on in the course to build in discussion and an understanding of ethics. Activity includes 12 studies - students only have 1 study each - the walk around the room and have to find all 12 studies (by talking to each other) and complete a worksheet alongside where they have to make 2 decisions: is this study ‘ethical/unethical’ and is this study ‘real/fake’ (they are actually all real studies and it leads to some great discussion about the range of research across psychology.

4. Paired work task - ethics cards - focused questions that students have to research and answer and present back to the class.

5. Link to my Kahoot quiz with questions based on the lesson materials

6. PowerPoint 2: overview of the ethical issues

7. Notes on what ethical issues are and the role of the British Psychological Society’s code of ethics.

8. Cut and stick activity - creates all the notes needed on each ethical issue, including how ‘to deal with them’. Answers included!

9. Group work activity - discussion scenarios (link to exam style questions - without them realising until after). Feedback provided on the PowerPoint.