Ethical Issues and Decision Making Models in Psychology

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Abstract

Diversity in society’s phenomenon calls for effective approaches to addressing and understanding the conceptual and analytical aspects of these phenomenon with which there is always a “conflict to be”, foreseen or unforeseen, necessitating professionalism and mindful practices by psychologists. Ethical dilemma can be viewed as a situation which involves complexities of mental conflict between moral imperatives that is, by applying one imperative then the other one is automatically transgressed. Society’s institutions advocates for various moral imperatives such as ethics, compromise, integrity, law and other ethical systems within a given moral code. To study and evaluate a group of individuals for a specific phenomenon entails effective assessment of the subjects under study; their needs and wants, clarification of the problem and identification of appropriate intervention and employing appropriate resources for developing and implementing feasible and applicable solutions. Needs assessment thus as a sub-sector of the evaluation process calls for systematically addressing particular needs and/or identifying and mitigating the current conditions with respect to the desired or standard conditions. It is therefore a responsibility of psychology professional to alleviate the gap between the current and the desired conditions using the best and standard ethical provisions stipulated in the area of study and specialization.

Key words: Ethical dilemma, need assessment, ethical decision making, case study, real life situations and conflicts, models

Introduction

Community- based research as an approach entails partnering with the community members, representatives and researchers in which they share power, resources and credits and knowledge of the phenomenon understudy in all aspects within the research process. The community in this context involves the subjects understudy; individual with a common problem or goal, a community within a given geographical space and/or a collaboration of individuals with a given expertise with an aim of investigating a set of individuals or phenomenon in the society. This implies that each and every individual participating in the research process has a chance of creating knowledge of the advancement of the field of study and/ or brings a new perspective to the world of research through incorporating research, reflection and appropriate action in a cyclical manner (Wesley and Buysse, 2006). This process is faced with ethical dilemmas in that the interdependence of phenomenon denies the professionals an explicit differentiation and separation of phenomenon in a bid to identify/ study and provide the appropriate course of action. This calls for needs assessment in a bid to identify and peg individual needs for the research process which are varied with respect to the area of specialization, the subjects under evaluation, scope of the study, the audience and available funds to see the process through. The needs assessment necessitates application of a given model; a platform to integrate all the aspects of the research process, a series of steps to ensure the right decisions are made within each and every stage of the process (Iphofen& Palgrave Connect, 2009) and this paper will evaluate the ethical dilemmas of the case study provided and link it with the 10-step decision making process in the Canadian code of ethics for psychologists.

In our case study, one of the ethical dilemmas is choice of the population for study whereby in evaluation of a societal problem such as drug use and addiction, a relatively larger population and heterogeneous for that case should be analyzed. For instance, by choosing to study “low income minority youths” the evaluation is justified depending with the available funds but compromises on the scope and efficiency/impact in that serious issues such as drug use and addiction not only affects a fraction of the society but the general society irrespective of economic and social backgrounds. In addition, the old friend’s need to serve the at-risks kids is a moral imperative that is challenged by unavailability of funds to foresee the progress, a twist that involves the psychologist’s use of a wise decision making model to balance of weigh in the available fund, the impacts of the process, the scope and time factor.

As discussed, an effective decision making strategy is paramount and in our case we shall employ the 10 step decision making process by the Canadian code of ethics for psychologists to describe the plausible responses for the ethical dilemmas. First, I would identify individuals and groups that are affected by the decision; a process achieved by evaluating who, what, where and respective degree of the impact to the population or individual, evaluate the existence of uncertainty revolving around ethical issues and clarify the assumption I might make in the process. This will be easier in the process of need assessment which by evaluating individual needs, appropriate decision can be made with respect to the scope of the study and available resources. The next step will be to identify the ethically relevant issues and practices; personal and community interests, rights and other aspects/ circumstances of the social setting with which the problem arose; understanding the factors that contribute to the drug use in a particular setting and widening of the study population for reliability and accuracy. This would later be followed by evaluation of how personal bias, stress or self- interest might influence my choice between various courses of action; declaration of conflict of interest if any in the process of decision making more so on the population to be included and the integrity purposed during the reporting and dissemination stages. For instance, for credibility of the results and the objectivity of the study my decisions concerning the scope of the study will greatly differ with those of the old friend since as a psychology professional I would consider a sample that represents the whole society with no bias or self-interests of profits from the grant.

The next step would be to develop several courses of action a process that I would accomplish by brainstorming and ensuring flexibility to touch all the stakeholders; evaluating choices and alternatives that have not been considered and counter-matching the solutions with the interests of the primary stakeholders. The next step would be analyzing the short term, ongoing and long term risks and benefits of each course of action that is, evaluation of how the process affects the primary stakeholders; how these effects will impact on their interactions with the secondary stakeholders such as self, family, client and employing institution or other students. This step would later be followed by the choice of action which would be guided by principles values and standards of research ethics and the problem under study. The choice of action would later be followed by the action stage whereby as a consultant I would assume full responsibilities for the consequences; the potential positive and negative consequences of the affected persons, magnitude and the probability of occurrence, evaluation of broader systemic consequences as tied to symbolic and secrecy and consideration of cognitive barriers and biases. Step 8 would be evaluation of results for taking the action whereby I would evaluate the intuition aspects of the decision I made and evaluate on the expert decision making aspects as a consultant with experience in the field of research. The next step would be assuming responsibilities for the action and re-engaging with the decision making process if the issue was not resolved which will be the landscape for the 10th and final step of the decision making process of taking warranted action in line to feasibility to prevent future occurrences of the dilemma (Pope & Vasquez, 2010).

Ethical decision making models smoothens the need assessment stage of the research process such that identification of the impacts and benefits accrues to the participants in an equal proportion regardless of the role and scope. For instance, by applying the model in the real life situations and conflicts, as a consultant I will have achieved objectivity and credible information by adhering to all standard procedures; my old friend would benefit from the funding based on data provided and the widened scope of the study to cover the state rather than a section of the community and the study subjects will have a chance to learn more on dangers of drug use, personal expression and relations within the heterogeneity of culture, race, religious orientation and other socio-cultural aspects in life (DeCremer, 2009).

Conclusion

The evaluation of sensitive societal phenomenon such as drug use calls for appropriate decision making model of which the one given above satisfies the course due to its benefits such as giving the participants a chance to incorporate research in the process; gives the process/ groups a chance to present iterative ideas, reflection and course of action, all in cyclical process. Though the model is seen as a “time consuming deliberation” with little consultation with parties affected, the model has an explicit procedure of achieving the desired results but needs exploration on the interaction between colleagues and other advisory bodies in the research field.

References

De, C. D. (2009). Psychological perspectives on ethical behavior and decision making. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Pub.

Iphofen, R., & Palgrave Connect (Online service). (2009). Ethical decision making in social research: A practical guide. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Pope, K. S., & Vasquez, M. J. T. (2010). Ethics in Psychotherapy and Counseling: A Practical Guide. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.

Wesley, P., & Buysse, V. (January 01, 2006). Ethics and Evidence in Consultation. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 26, 3, 131-141