Study Ethical issues in animal research in the Pearson Edexcel A Level Psychology specification, with the knowledge and exam application needed for accurate mark-scheme responses.
Louis investigated the effect of sleep disturbance on appetite. He conducted his investigation using nine rats. Louis set an alarm bell to ring at fixed one hour intervals over a ten-day period to disturb the rats.
Louis provided 25 grams of food to each rat at 09:00hrs each day. He recorded the amount of food remaining at 19:00hrs when he removed the food from the cage.
A control group of four rats that were not deprived of sleep were used as a comparison for his results.
Describe three ethical considerations Louis should have considered when he used animals during his investigation.
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2
3
AO2 (6 marks)
Credit up to two marks for each description in relation to the scenario.
For example;
- Refinement would mean Louis considered how to conduct the
experiment on rats with minimal pain (1) such as using the bell to
disturb sleep instead of electric shocks (1).
- He would have made sure he provided a suitable habitat for the
rats in both conditions (1) and that the 25g of food was an
adequate amount to maintain a healthy weight (1).
- Reduction requires Louis to use as few rats as possible in his
experiment, so he used only nine (thirteen in total) rats (1) which
would be the minimum needed to reliably test sleep disturbance
and appetite (1).
Look for other reasonable marking points.
Generic answers score 0 marks.
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