Essential Ethics

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You have a keen interest in a particular area of study and you're chomping at the bit to get going with some original research - it's hard enough as it is to come up with an original idea to follow up and you know that the more time you spend getting geared up for the research, the greater the risk of someone else getting to publication first.  At this point, before you go any further, you have to pause and think - does this project fall within ethical guidelines?

Ethical approval is essential in any sort of research.  The coulds, shoulds and woulds of research must fall within the boundaries of scientific investigation and ethical norms in order to carry validity.

With Stage 2 training, as with any advanced degree such as a Masters, students have to go that extra mile in order to demonstrate impeccable ethical practice; arranging for an ethics committee to sign off a project alone is not enough.

There are guidelines for trainees to follow, including the BPS Code of Ethics and Guidance, and the DFP Resources pages, which provide ethical guidelines specific to Forensic Psychology.  These are the rule books which should provide the background to whatever work you carry out on any aspects of competence in the Stage 2 training.

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It helps to extend your thinking when planning your research in order to ensure that it falls within the guidelines. With technological advancements moving at lightning speed and within the easy grasp of trainees, the ethical guidelines agreed by committees may very quickly be left behind or fall short.  Trainees should demonstrate that they have applied the principles of ethical research to each situation and taken ethical issues into account regardless of whether committee guidelines have allowed for innovation.

For example, if using online survey tools, you should be checking what the survey providers do with the data submitted, how long this is kept, how secure it is and is the data sold on to third parties.  Their policies on the use of cookies or privacy will have to be looked into, always with a view on how these might affect the participants.

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The best way to cover as many of the ethical issues as possible is to associate the research with an organisation that has an ethical board who will consider and agree the project.  Without this, you and your supervisor will need to demonstrate thoroughly that all ethical issues have been considered and that they have been managed within overall guidelines.  In addition to this, I would recommend that you obtain permission or a statement from your particular governing body, such as the DFP or BPS before proceeding with the research project as this can be submitted as evidence that you have applied ethical consideration to your work and that you have been permitted to proceed.

Although I have focused on ethics in research, it is wise to remember that ethics permeates every core role in the Forensic Psychology Stage 2 training, and your approach and consideration to the principles of ethics will apply to training, assessment, intervention and consultation.  Ethics, in other words, is essential.

Readiness to Research and Publish

Research is a hot topic for trainees in this discipline.  It is also important for academics and professionals throughout their career, so it is essential for trainees to master the art of carrying out research and, equally important these days, having it published.  

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There is a current, rather heated debate on issues around publication of research.  There are those who voice concerns that there is a distinct lack of replicable studies, while others state that many published studies may replicate others but that this serves to confirm outcomes and push forward political or policy agendas rather than theory.  Critics of the latter focus on their belief that there currently exists too great an emphasis on novel research, or randomised control trials and that there is not enough theoretical development emerging from each study. 

Added to this discursive mayhem are the voices of those who point out that only particular types of research appear to be popular in terms of receiving funding, and there are those who complain of receiving unnecessarily caustic, even personal, criticisms from peer reviewers.  When faced with all this, as well as the ever-present possibility of rejections from editors, it is unsurprising that trainees will feel disheartened at entering this apparent academic minefield.

However, there are ways of achieving publication and recognition for your research.  A good starting point would be to ensure that if you are replicating a research study that you have a very strong case to do so - ideally you will show that you are addressing any recognised flaws in the original study, or you are developing a strand of theory that emerged from the original. If your rationale for replicating  a study is not solid,then it would be best to develop a novel research study.

Trainees in the prison service find themselves with an additional challenge to overcome since they generally have no options as to the research that they carry out: they usually will receive instruction on this as part of their duties.  Independent trainees are fortunate to have greater freedom, but their particular challenges are difficulties in obtaining both funding and access to participants. Research can sometimes be affected by the issue of access to participants since independents sometimes have to resort to researching with willing members of the public rather than a specific sample.

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The discussion must then be had on whether the first step for research is the theory or idea to be tested, or whether the research should be developed from the feasibility of certain areas of study.  When searching for research ideas either or both of these issues may be hugely influential.  

Ideas for research often do emerge from the participants that trainees can access.  To a much lesser extent, however, there are still possibilities to have an original idea by exploring the literature and the current research base and be able to create a successful proposal and gather relevant participants - so trainees do need to hold on to that thought.

Research does need to have a sound rationale based on existing academic literature, theory and  relevance in the current socio-political climate. Although, as scientists we might all wish we could easily research on subjects we feel are of pure scientific interest.  There is a two-fold purpose to this: firstly, the rationale will support at an ethical level why the researcher wishes to test participants; secondly, the rationale will provide a firm foundation with which to approach funding and supporting organisations, groups of participants, and, eventually, publications.

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With some creativity, trainees can develop a successful research proposal where they explore a field of study in which they have an interest, without funding, with access participants even if this might be time limited, and can find theoretical support or gaps in the current literature.  Trainees ought to consider these questions when contemplating developing a research project: Is this research going to be useful to the wider community and if so, why? Does this research open up the pathways to further study, and does it have implications for policy? Does it have current cultural and societal relevance and form a useful addition to the field?

I think most trainees have some great and creative ideas for research, but it is important to pare these down to those which have the attributes of relevance, feasibility and uniqueness in the field.  The research projects that can clearly show these attributes will be the successful projects.

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Trainee research projects do not have to be vast, however, trainees should be aware that though small,concise and thorough may be effective and achieve interesting results, they may be limited in terms of being attractive to publishers.  For example, pilot studies are rarely published unless part of a much wider piece of research.  It is much easier to achieve publication if the initial results are followed up and this work forms part of the paper presented.  Trainees looking to publish research may need to consider adding this dimension of time as a factor required in the research preparation and proposal.

The preparation of research studies is important to trainees and should be neither forgotten or underestimated.  With your supervisor and aided by your review of the literature, your initial ideas will be developed so that you can refine a hypothesis, define your aims, prepare your research questions, decide on the type of data you need and develop your methodology and analysis.  Working through all this with your supervisor will help you to move from an initial research idea into developing a working and feasible proposal and then creating a working project.

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A final, essential issue that must play a part in your preparation to research, is that of ethics.  In many ways, this should be obvious to trainees: research, in its idea and proposed execution, must be ethical, and wherever possible be approved by an ethical board.  Independent trainees who do not have access to an ethical board would be well advised to obtain confirmation of the acceptability of their research from the DFP or BPS in order to cover themselves and also their supervisor.  Furthermore, trainees should always demonstrate strong management of ethics by checking data protection usage and data storage, for example, if using online surveys with the general public.

The labyrinth that needs to be negotiated in order to achieve publication will be addressed in my post later in the month, but for now, happy researching.

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Submission perfection - an eye for detail

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One of the skills forensic psychologists in training need to hone is that of paying attention to detail.  Thoroughness in everything is essential and can range widely, from verifying research sources and accuracy in referencing to ensuring grammar and spellings enhance the meaning of a written piece of work and that argumentation is logical and either supports or disproves a hypothesis.

Submitting a piece of work is sometimes daunting.  Writers talk about submission to publishing houses in terms of sending their babies out to face the world, and your sending in your submission does feel a little similar: you spend months if not longer gestating the idea, researching, developing the hypothesis, developing your research, analysing the results and then writing it up.  At this point, students would be well advised to read, re-read and read again their work.  No-one likes their progeny returned home unloved by the tough world of assessment.  Here are a few tips I have picked up along my road to Chartership:

• In submitting research you need to have a clear rationale for the work and demonstrate in as many ways as possible how you have considered the ethics of the subject matter at hand, and the ethics of how you intend to deal with it.  For example, if you are chartering independently and you do not have an ethics committee to approve your research, you will need to check this with the DFP and submit as evidence anything they respond with about whether the research can go ahead.  I was using social media and Survey Monkey to access participants and use an online questionnaire.  I asked the DFP if there were any ethical issues with this in their policy.  I used their response as evidence of ethical consideration, not only checking my submission would be valid and acceptable, but also enhancing my work.  I also evidenced how I would ensure people remained anonymous online, for example by removing IP addresses from the data downloads.  I gave further evidence in how I gained online consent, how to ensure that participants have read the information and have given informed consent, all issues with ethical ramifications that show you have considered and made provision for all the possibilities.  

•  In analysing data, you need to justify any analysis that you use and you need to provide an adequate depth in the analysis.  For the final write up you should bear in mind that the assessors want to see a report that could be published - you are providing evidence that you can write for non-researchers, such as non-psychologist stake holders.  You may have to write two reports, one of a publishable quality and one a summary of research and outcomes aimed at stake holders.  Trainees have been known to fail on the fact that they did not write for lay persons, or have failed because their final report conversely leaned towards appealing to the stakeholders and was not written with sufficient academic strength.  It is important to her able to separate the two different styles of writing and try retain focus on what is required of each piece. I was one of the trainees who wrote too much for the stakeholders and not enough for publication and so all that was required from me was a bit of editing of language and structure - which sounds simple, but can be time-consuming.

•  One of the requirements of Chartership is that you should demonstrate that you have conducted the research but the challenge in this is that submitting raw data is not acceptable as it could be used to identify your participants.  It is therefore important to apply some creativity in how you do this. Remember, the registrar has to approve it first in your exemplar plan and this should help avoid the situation that you collect lots of data and evidence and the assessors refuse to accept it.  Don't panic, listen to the registrars feedback and apply the advice.

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One  final point; if there is anything in your writing that could possibly identify even an organisation
or location, you will fail.  Be careful about headers, text, coding, letter heads and logos.  Every             identifier must go.

 Above all, once you have submitted, don't let yourself become disheartened by feedback.  The assessors do try to find positive aspects of your submission and they are very clear about what it is they want you to rework and resubmit.  Sometimes they raise what might seem a frustratingly minor point, but this will be part of your learning to be thorough, to cover all angles, as is expected from a professional in any field.  Make sure you have your eye on the fine detail, and success will follow.

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