Two ethical guidelines are debriefing and informed consent. Suggest how ethical issues raised in the Piliavin et al. study (subway Samaritans) relate to these two ethical guidelines.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (Feb/Mar 2018). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. [For each guideline/issue 1 mark for outlining the ethical guideline/how ethical guideline links to study/only about how the ethical guideline impacts practicality/methodologically 1 mark for explaining the ethical issue arising from the ethical guideline]
2. Debriefing As the participants did not know they had taken part in a study, this was difficult (1 mark outline). Therefore, participants could not have the full aims of the study explained to them/have any questions answered so psychological harm may have happened (1 mark ethical issue); The large amount of potential participants (4450) that could have witnessed the events made it very difficult to plan for a debrief so psychological harm may have happened (1 mark ethical issue).
3. Informed consent None of the participants knew that a study was about to take place so this could not happen (1 mark outline). Therefore, they could not give their permission to take part in it and be exposed to a potentially threatening situation (1 mark ethical issue); Therefore they may have been exposed to a situation that caused psychological harm without permission (1 mark ethical issue).