Ethical Guidelines for the Use of Animals in Research (DP IB Psychology)
Revision Note
What ethical considerations apply to the use of animals in research?
Researchers are not able to apply the ethical considerations that they would use when working with human participants e.g. it is impossible to gain informed consent from animals; animals cannot be given the right to withdraw
There are particular ethical guidelines which apply only to the use of animals as set down by bodies such as the British Psychological Society (BPS) and the American Psychological Association (APA)
In the past animals may have been used without much consideration for their wellbeing but it is becoming increasingly important that researchers exercise due care and respect for their animal subjects to minimise suffering and only use animal subjects when it is deemed necessary
Researchers must undertake a cost/benefit analysis when considering using animals in research: if the costs outweigh the benefits then the research should not take place
Any study which uses animals should have a clear aim and should be able to stand up to scrutiny as a piece of scientific research
Possible alternatives to the use of animals in research include using cell cultures, computer simulations or conducting a meta-analysis i.e. using work already completed by other researchers
Thankfully the days of research such as Harlow (1958) are long gone
What are the specific ethical guidelines used in animal research?
There are three clear determining factors which researchers must apply when using animals in research: Replace; Reduce; Refine
Replace: use alternatives to live animals e.g. computer simulations or existing video footage of previous research
Reduce: use as few animals as possible for the study and conduct a pilot study to ensure that any flaws in the procedure are addressed so that animals are not used thoughtlessly
Refine: procedures must be analysed to ensure that animals do not suffer unnecessarily e.g. limit any aversive or harmful elements to the procedure such as keeping an animal in isolation or interfering with its usual routines such as feeding and sleeping; avoid overcrowding animals in laboratory cages
Refine: study animals in the wild, living in their natural environment where possible; handle animals with care, particularly if the animal has undergone any surgery as part of the research process
Examiner Tips and Tricks
You may feel very strongly that any research which uses animals is abhorrent and should be banned but hold back from expressing such strong views in an exam. You need to be detached and objective in an exam, considering both sides of the debate, even if you don’t believe in the other side of the argument one little bit! Giving in to your own feelings will de-value your response and you will not score as highly as you would have if you had maintained a more neutral voice. Your feelings are valid but they are better expressed in other forums e.g. a classroom debate on ethics.
Worked Example
EXTENDED RESPONSE QUESTION (ERQ)
22 MARKS
The question is, ‘To what extent is research using animals ethical?’ [22]
‘To what extent’ requires you to consider a range of arguments regarding whether or not animal research is ethical so that you are able to form a conclusion based on the points that have been raised in the essay. Look at these exemplar paragraphs to give you an idea as to how to construct relevant arguments for this exam question:
Researchers must conduct a cost-benefit analysis weighing up the decision to use animals at all, even within the ethical guidelines, to minimise the cost to the animals. The benefits and costs have to be considered for each piece of research. However, sometimes the benefits for treatment of humans are not known until human clinical trials take place after the animal studies i.e. it is ultimately more ethical to test the treatment on animals first. However, this approach can backfire and lead to humans being harmed: Archibald and Coleman (2012) stated that, in 92% of medical cases, treatments that worked with animals failed clinical trials with humans. Bearing this in mind perhaps it could be argued that animal research should be abandoned as it does not serve a useful purpose.
Animal research may be unethical to a great extent in that we often cannot argue that the benefits outweigh the costs until many animals have been used in research and probably suffered as part of the process. Researchers have to believe that it is better to use an animal to potentially understand human behaviour and to develop cures for human disorders than it is to use a human, even if that human is a volunteer. Minimising the animals’ distress, using as few subjects as necessary, and housing them as humanely as possible makes the research ethical to a greater extent than it was before these measures were introduced. What cannot be ignored however, is the lack of generalisability to humans which means that such research is unethical as, really, what is the point of it? Where researchers have reasonable doubt as to the usefulness of using animals then alternatives, such as computer simulations or cell samples should be used. In this way the research would be fully adhering to the ethical guidelines for the use of animals in research.
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