Ethical Scenario
Without seeing the wording of the consent form, there is little evidence to support the rejection of the study. The British Psychological Society's guidelines on informed consent can be found on page 12 of the Code of Ethics and Conduct. They are attached in Appendix A. There is no evidence in the one-paragraph case write-up that the proposed study does not give ample opportunity for participations to understand the nature of the study (i). The consent form should explain this and the researchers also have the opportunity on multiple occasions to explain the nature and consequences of the study.
Line (ii) is adhered to, as all volunteers will be required to sign the consent form. The wording of the paragraph is "asked to sign," and this should be amended to clarify: volunteers will be required to sign, and they will sign immediately...
There is no evidence in the write-up that the researchers will be ignorant to the possibility that some of the volunteers might lack capacity (iv). Lines (v), (vi) and (vii) are not applicable as there is opportunity to acquire informed consent. Line (viii) does not apply as prisoners will not be included in the study -- they would not be at a job centre to see the posting. Line (ix) applies to observational research and is therefore not applicable to this study. Line (x) also does not apply.
It is a reach to infer that there is some deception involved in this study, at least without seeing the interview questions. If one wanted to assume that the full and true nature of the study is for some reason being withheld from the participants (it certainly does…
