Developmental Research Ethics See Details Use only provided sources - Term Paper Example

Developmental Research Ethics Two Attributes that are Most Important for being a Critical Reader/Consumer of Developmental Psychology Research Developmental psychology essentially refers to a scientific study that is conducted in relation to emotional, psychological and perceptual alterations which take place in humans during the course of their span of life. In the course of being a critical reader/consumer of developmental psychology, there are certain crucial attributes to be considered by the person to properly conduct the assessment of the subject-matter.

The two crucial attributes are depicted below: 1. ‘Respect for People’s Right and Dignity’: Psychologists generally are required to respect the worth as well as dignity of all people and it is the privilege of an individual to have the opportunity to maintain confidentiality, solitude and self autonomy, which a psychologist needs to value. Psychologists also are conscious that it is essential to protect the interests as well as rights of communities or persons whose susceptibility may damage autonomous decision making.

In this attribute, a critical reader also requires to remain conscious to offer respect to different individuals’ roles and cultures which is based on gender identification, age, racial factors, religion, national origin, language and socioeconomic position. These factors are taken into account, when the reader/consumer is working with the people of that particular group. From a reader’s point of view, this is an effective attribute for developing a successful psychological research (American Psychological Association, 2012). 2. ‘Justice’: Justice is another characteristic that assists to develop an effective psychological research.

In this context, psychologists identify that justice as well as equity enable all individuals to access and also recognize the benefits from the cooperation of psychology in the research process. A critical reader/consumer is required to provide logical judgment and take safety measures to ensure that certain potential unfairness and the limitations of their competence and expertise do not lead to overlook of unfair practices (American Psychological Association, 2012). Two Major Ethical IssuesOne of the major ethical problems, which is faced by cross-cultural researchers or particular culture based researchers, is lack of potential findings from their studies which is used to justify effective stereotypes about cultural groups.

Researchers evaluate that justification is relatively different from testing the specification of previous research. This justification comprises a researcher’s knowledge consciousness about past research and their attempt is to examine their limitations and validity. Most probably such knowledge consciousness also notifies researchers about the necessary awareness of their possible influence on the research process (Behnke, 2009). Vindication implies a researcher’s negligence of such stereotypes, and thus there is a possibility of lack of awareness about how the stereotypes may affect their present research decision unconsciously (Behnke, 2009).

Another major ethical issue which is being faced by cross-cultural researchers’ during their research is lack of attention about cultural operationalization. Researchers’ must be conscious that their choices in comparative research about operationalization of culture have essential consequences, and might be related with probable ethical issues. For example, when researchers constructing decision regarding how cultural group should be operationalize, they frequently believe that dissimilarities exist among them and conduct their research to exhibit whether those differences actually exist or not.

The essential purpose of these researchers is to analyze, whether such differences really exist or not so that the limitation of knowledge can be tested as well as clarified. An outcome of this procedure, moreover, is those very distinctions that are documented can be utilized which can effect stereotypes related to differences by consumers of that research. For instance, to obtain research findings documentation related dissimilarities among South Korean and American population and to create a statement that oversimplify those findings to all members of that particular group, it is necessary to maintain ethical standards in making judgments.

If these issues are not taken into deliberation then it can lead to wrong understanding and judgment of cross-cultural research (Behnke, 2009). References American Psychological Association. (2012). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.aspx?item=3# Behnke, S. (2009). Reading the ethics code more deeply. American Psychological Association 40(4), pp. 66.