Ethical practice is part of the research design

Research ethics is a framework of principles governing how researchers treat participants and handle information about them. Both teachers and students carry ethical responsibility in class practicals. Useful findings never take priority over participants’ welfare or rights.

The IB places high standards of ethical practice at the centre of its educational philosophy, and every class practical must meet its ethical guidelines. These guidelines shape the investigation from the start: what can be studied, who can take part, how the procedure runs and what happens to the data afterwards. Ethics isn't an extra added once the investigation is complete.

Keep a brief record of each practical to support preparation for Paper 2 Section A. Include the aim, procedure, sampling technique, sample findings and ethical considerations. In the ethical account, describe the safeguards you actually used. Simply calling the procedure ethical is not enough.

Protection from harm

Class practicals take place under teacher supervision. When students lead an optional practical, classmates must have a genuine choice to decline and must be free to leave at any time. Friendship with the researcher does not create an obligation to take part. Neither does sharing a classroom.

Procedures that cause anxiety, stress, pain or discomfort are not permitted. Keeping distress small is not sufficient: a class practical must not harm anyone. Teachers and students must also be particularly sensitive to local, national and international cultures. What seems harmless to the person designing a task may mean something quite different to a participant from another cultural background.

Partial deception is a research procedure in which participants do not receive full information about a study before taking part. It may be allowed only if full knowledge would fundamentally alter the outcome, no harm results, and participants receive a full debriefing afterwards. These are narrow conditions. Partial deception is not a convenient shortcut to more natural behaviour.

Debriefing is a process after participation that explains the study and reveals information previously withheld. Following partial deception, participants must also have the option to withdraw their data. Leaving a procedure is different from removing data already collected; the guidelines protect both actions in the circumstances specified.

Conformity and obedience studies are prohibited without exception. They do not become permissible through consent, supervision or a planned debriefing.

Sensitive topics in interviews

The subject matter determines the ethical issues in an interview, not just its format. If the questions ask people to reveal sensitive experiences, a structured interview can be as intrusive as a semi-structured interview or focus group.

Students must not interview fellow students about personal mental health concerns or diagnoses, experiences of bullying, or self-harm. A polite question does not remove the problem. Nor does a participant’s willingness to answer make an inappropriate topic acceptable.

Choose ordinary habits or strategies for a safer interview, without inviting sensitive personal disclosures. You could, for example, explore how someone builds a regular sleep routine or chooses everyday leisure activities. Keep the procedure within that non-sensitive focus rather than letting it drift into questions about private difficulties. Choosing the topic is itself an ethical safeguard.

Explicit informed consent and freedom to withdraw

Informed consent is an agreement to participate after receiving the information needed to understand the research and the participant’s rights. In class practicals, that agreement must be explicit and recorded through a consent form. Turning up, staying in the room or beginning a task cannot substitute for consent.

Tell participants the practical’s aims and objectives. Before the procedure starts, they must also know that they can withdraw at any time, and researchers must not pressure them to continue. The limited allowance for partial deception does not cancel these general obligations. Any withheld information must meet the conditions described above.

The additional permission required depends on age:

• Participants aged 16 or older: parental consent is not required, but participants must still give their own explicit informed consent.
• Children under 16: their parent or guardian must give written consent and understand the implications of participation.
• Children under 12: participation is possible only when appropriate ethical safeguards are addressed, particularly parental informed consent. This is neither a blanket prohibition nor automatic permission.

For research with children in a school, the teachers concerned must also give written consent. An adult’s permission does not remove the need to protect the child from harm.

Research must not involve someone who is not in a fit state of mind and cannot respond freely and independently. If a person cannot make a free response, apparent agreement is insufficient. Animals must not be used in class practicals.

Consent in observations and surveys

Naturalistic observation is a research method that records behaviour where it ordinarily occurs, without manipulating the setting. Consent poses a particular problem here. Asking permission would alert people to the observation and could change their behaviour. In the circumstances described by the guide, obtaining informed consent is therefore not possible; debriefing afterwards would also be difficult and ineffective.

The teacher decides which situations are appropriate for naturalistic observation. It is acceptable where people would expect strangers to see them or where the behaviour occurs in public—for example, people using a public park. What matters is the expectation of being observed, not simply whether the researcher can access a location. This provision applies specifically to naturalistic observation. It does not exempt every method from consent.

Surveys and questionnaires usually raise fewer ethical difficulties, but researchers must still obtain consent before issuing the questionnaire. Completing it does not count as implied consent. The questions must also meet the protection-from-harm requirements.

Data protection continues after participation

Confidentiality is a restriction on access to information that prevents disclosure to others. Store all collected data responsibly and confidentially. It must not be disclosed to another person.

Anonymity is a condition in which information cannot be linked to an identifiable participant. You must guarantee each participant’s anonymity, even after the practical has ended. Confidentiality concerns who can access information; anonymity concerns whether it identifies someone. The two safeguards are related, but the terms are not interchangeable.

Use data only for the purposes participants agreed to. Consent to one investigation does not authorize later use for an unrelated purpose. Delete any data collected or stored online when the research is complete.

Explain in the practical record how you handled storage, anonymity, agreed use and online deletion. Leave identifying details out of the sample findings. The record provides evidence of the research process, not permission to expose participants.

The fixed method–context pairings

The ethical requirements apply to all four prescribed practicals. Each has a fixed method, context and minimum sample:

• Health and well-being: an interview with at least one participant, or a focus group containing three to eight participants.
• Human development: an observation with at least one participant.
• Human relationships: a survey or questionnaire with at least ten participants.
• Learning and cognition: an experiment with at least five participants for repeated measures, or ten for independent measures.

Reaching the minimum sample does not make a practical ethically acceptable. Its method and topic must still allow the protections described above. Do not pressure people to participate merely to reach the required number.