Discuss Ethical Considerations of Research at the Biological Level of Analysis

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Discuss ethical considerations related to research studies at the biological level of analysis "Offer a considered and balanced review that includes a range of arguments, factors or hypotheses. Opinions or conclusions should be presented clearly and supported by appropriate evidence." An ethical consideration is a consideration of what is acceptable to do in a study. Researchers must always balance between what they wish to discover and their participants’ rights. On a general basis, it is necessary to have the consent of the participants before they take part in the study, and they should be given all the information they need to know before they can agree. However in some cases deception is required to gain the results of the study. They must also be able to withdraw at any point before the results are used or published, and have their privacy kept with their results remaining confidential. These ethical considerations exist in order to protect the participants from harm and ensure that the research does not permanently affect their lives negatively. Sometimes there are other factors that need to be taken into account that mean that not all ethical considerations can be taken. The study of Clive Wearing researched the effect of brain damage on memory. In Clive’s case, the brain disease Herpes encephalitis seriously damaged his hippocampus, an area of the brain required to transfer short-term memories into long-term memories. Due to this, Clive was unable to form new memories. When his case was studied, several ethical issues arose. With his memory span lasting between 7 and 30 seconds, it was impossible to give him all of the information about the study that would be based on him; therefore he could not give an informed consent. He was also not able to give consent at all as in the time taken for the researchers to ask him, he would already have

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