Methods for Practising Ethics in Research and Innovation: A Literature Review, Critical Analysis and Recommendations

Bioethics: No Method-No Discipline?

This article raises the question of whether bioethics qualifies as a discipline. According to a standard definition of discipline as "a field of study following specific and well-established methodological rules" bioethics is not a specific discipline as there are no explicit "well-established methodological rules." The article investigates whether the methodological rules can be implicit, and whether bioethics can follow specific methodological rules within subdisciplines or for specific tasks. As this does not appear to be the case, the article examines whether bioethics' adherence to specific quality criteria (instead of methodological rules) or pursuing of a common goal can make it qualify as a discipline. Unfortunately, the result is negative. Then, the article scrutinizes whether referring to bioethics institutions and professional qualifications can ascertain bioethics as a discipline. However, this makes the definition of bioethics circular. The article ends by admitting that bioethics can qualify as a discipline according to broader definitions of discipline, for example, as an "area of knowledge, research and education." However, this would reduce bioethics' potential for demarcation and identity-building. Thus, to consolidate the discipline of bioethics and increase its impact, we should explicate and elaborate on its methodology.

What's next for responsible artificial intelligence: a way forward through responsible innovation

Industry is adopting artificial intelligence (AI) at a rapid pace and a growing number of countries have declared national AI strategies. However, several spectacular AI failures have led to ethical concerns about responsibility in AI development and use, which gave rise to the emerging field of responsible AI (RAI). The field of responsible innovation (RI) has a longer history and evolved toward a framework for the entire research, development, and innovation life cycle. However, this research demonstrates that the uptake of RI by RAI has been slow. RAI has been developing independently, with three times the number of publications than RI. The objective and knowledge contribution of this research was to understand how RAI has been developing independently from RI and contribute to how RI could be leveraged toward the progression of RAI in a causal loop diagram. It is concluded that stakeholder engagement of citizens from diverse cultures across the Global North and South is a policy leverage point for moving the RI adoption by RAI toward global best practice. A role-specific recommendation for policy makers is made to deploy modes of engaging with the Global South with more urgency to avoid the risk of harming vulnerable populations. As an additional methodological contribution, this study employs a novel method, systematic science mapping, which combines systematic literature reviews with science mapping. This new method enabled the discovery of an emerging 'axis of adoption' of RI by RAI around the thematic areas of ethics, governance, stakeholder engagement, and sustainability. 828 Scopus articles were mapped for RI and 2489 articles were mapped for RAI. The research presented here is by any measure the largest systematic literature review of both fields to date and the only cross-disciplinary review from a methodological perspective.

Reframing data ethics in research methods education: a pathway to critical data literacy

This paper presents an ethical framework designed to support the development of critical data literacy for research methods courses and data training programmes in higher education. The framework we present draws upon our reviews of literature, course syllabi and existing frameworks on data ethics. For this research we reviewed 250 research methods syllabi from across the disciplines, as well as 80 syllabi from data science programmes to understand how or if data ethics was taught. We also reviewed 12 data ethics frameworks drawn from different sectors. Finally, we reviewed an extensive and diverse body of literature about data practices, research ethics, data ethics and critical data literacy, in order to develop a transversal model that can be adopted across higher education. To promote and support ethical approaches to the collection and use of data, ethics training must go beyond securing informed consent to enable a critical understanding of the techno-centric environment and the intersecting hierarchies of power embedded in technology and data. By fostering ethics as a method, educators can enable research that protects vulnerable groups and empower communities.

Coupling synergy calculation between innovation and ethical responsibility for high-tech enterprises from the perspective of responsibility innovation

This paper aims to analyze the coupling coordination degree of technology, economy, social responsibility, and ethic of technological innovation in high-tech enterprises, and provide basis for the optimization of technological innovation system structure in high-tech enterprises. Using data of high-tech enterprises in China Statistical Yearbook and China Statistical Yearbook of Science and Technology in 2018, the authors applied Cloud model to index transformation, consistent fuzzy preference relations to determine index weights, coupling degree model to measure the coupling degree of responsible innovation system of high-tech enterprises in China. Research results show that the responsible innovation system of China’s high-tech enterprises in 2018 is in a low degree of coordination and coupling stage, and the high-tech enterprises in China invest relatively little in technical level, social development, and ethical innovation. This research contributes to the literature on responsible innovation, ethical responsibility in the high-tech enterprises, which is conducive to improving the quality of innovation activities. However, this research collected data from a single country at a single point in time. This paper studies from the perspective of responsible innovation and measures the coupling degree between innovation and ethical responsibility of high-tech enterprises. The establishment of coupling analysis model can not only effectively calculate the coupling degree of technological innovation system, but also deeply analyze the shortcomings of each subsystem of technological innovation system, and provide a basis for the formulation of promotion strategy.

Discovering the Landscape and Evolution of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI): Science Mapping Based on Bibliometric Analysis

The growing number of papers on Responsible Innovation (RI) and Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) have shaped the popularity and usefulness of RI and RRI as a technology governance concept. This study reviews and assesses the development of RRI research through a bibliometric analysis of 702 RRI-focused papers and 26,471 secondary references published in the Web of Science Core Collection database between 2006 and 2020. Firstly, the paper provides a broad outline of the field based on annual growth trends, journal distribution, and disciplinary distribution for RRI publications. Secondly, this study reveals the current state of RRI research by identifying influential literature, journals, authors, countries, and institutions. Thirdly, a phased keyword analysis is conducted to determine the stage characteristics of the RRI field. Finally, based on the bibliometric analyses, this study summarises the evolutionary trajectory of RRI and makes recommendations for future research directions. As a complement to the previous qualitative literature review, the paper provides a systematic and dynamic understanding of RRI research.

Which Framework to Use? A Systematic Review of Ethical Frameworks for the Screening or Evaluation of Health Technology Innovations

Innovations permeate healthcare settings on an ever-increasing scale. Health technology innovations (HTIs) impact our perceptions and experiences of health, care, disease, etc. Because of the fast pace these HTIs are being introduced in different healthcare settings, there is a growing societal consensus that these HTIs need to be governed by ethical reflection. This paper reports a systematic review of argument-based literature which focused on articles reporting on ethical frameworks to screen or evaluate HTIs. To do this a four step methodology was followed: (1) Literature search conducted in five electronic literature databases; (2) Identification of relevant articles; (3) Development of data-extraction tool to analyze the included articles; (4) Analysis, synthesis of data and reporting of results. Fifty-seven articles were included, each reporting on a specific ethical framework. These ethical frameworks existed out of characteristics which were grouped into five common ones: (1) Motivations for development and use of frameworks; (2) Objectives of using frameworks; (3) Specific characteristics of frameworks (background context, scope, and focus); (4) Ethical approaches and concepts used in the frameworks; (5) Methods to use the frameworks. Although this multiplicity of ethical frameworks shows an increasing importance of ethically analyzing HTIs, it remains unclear what the specific role is of these analyses. An ethics of caution, on which ethical frameworks rely, guides HTIs in their design, development, implementation, without questioning their technological paradigm. An ethics of desirability questions this paradigm, without guiding HTIs. In the end, a place needs to be found in-between, to critically assess HTIs.

Improving the ethical dimension in the innovation process–Proposal for an ethical engineering design method:

Large companies' engineering design process rarely considers the ethical and moral dimensions of innovation projects. This need for ethics is increasingly felt, particularly with the advent of digital technologies. Our research mainly focuses on product designers in large companies during the innovation/creativity phase. We propose and evaluate the efficiency of a method allowing them to consider ethics from this first stage of product development. A specific database incorporating ethical categories and problems from the early stages of idea generation supports this study. This database is inspired by a research project funded by the European Commission called ETICA. We evaluate our proposal with a detailed case study in a large automotive company. This case study highlights the contribution of our extended ethical design method from an ethical point of view and a financial one for the company. We believe that our proposal will boost creativity by addressing innovative product designers' usual fixations.

Considering the ethical implications of digital collaboration in the Food Sector

The Internet of Food Things Network⁺ (IoFT) and the Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Intelligence for Automated Investigation for Scientific Discovery Network⁺ (AI3SD) brought together an interdisciplinary multi-institution working group to create an ethical framework for digital collaboration in the food industry. This will enable the exploration of implications and consequences (both intentional and unintentional) of using cutting-edge technologies to support the implementation of data trusts and other forms of digital collaboration in the food sector. This article describes how we identified areas for ethical consideration with respect to digital collaboration and the use of Industry 4.0 technologies in the food sector and describes the different interdisciplinary methodologies being used to produce this framework. The research questions and objectives that are being addressed by the working group are laid out, with a report on our ongoing work. The article concludes with recommendations about working on projects in this area.

This working group is aiming to create an ethical framework to elicit questions, facilitate discussions, and enable the exploration of the implications and consequences of digital collaboration in the food supply chain in line with the approach of responsible innovation. Ethics is a complex, diverse, and interdisciplinary area and cannot be formalized to provide a singular “right answer”. Because technology has significant ethical implications, we must empower developers, companies, and other stakeholders to engage with this complexity. To do this, individuals and companies alike need to be provided with methods of understanding the issues and trade-offs that could arise from their technology and processes. This endeavor is not one that can be worked on alone; it requires an interdisciplinary team and the use of a range of methodologies to understand and frame the issues at stake. Furthermore, running this initiative as part of two networks has provided access to a wealth of further expertise to aid with evaluation and feedback on our research.

A Q methodology study on divergent perspectives on CRISPR-Cas9 in the Netherlands

BACKGROUND

CRISPR-Cas9, a technology enabling modification of the human genome, is developing rapidly. There have been calls for public debate to discuss its ethics, societal implications, and governance. So far, however, little is known about public attitudes on CRISPR-Cas9. This study contributes to a better understanding of public perspectives by exploring the various holistic perspectives Dutch citizens have on CRISPR-Cas9.

METHODS

This study used Q methodology to identify different perspectives of Dutch citizens (N = 30) on the use of CRISPR-Cas9. The Q-sort method aims at segmenting audiences based on the structural characteristics of their perspectives. Participants individually ranked 32 statements about CRISPR-Cas9 and discussed their rankings in small groups. By-person factor analysis was performed using PQMethod. Participants' contributions to the discussions were used to further make sense of the audience segments identified.

RESULTS

Five perspectives on CRISPR-Cas9 were identified: (1) pragmatic optimism (2) concerned scepticism; (3) normative optimism; (4) enthusiastic support; and (5) benevolent generalism. Each perspective represents a unique position motivated by different ranking rationales. Sorting rationales included improving health, preventing negative impacts on society, and fear of a slippery slope. Overall, there is broad, but not universal support for medical uses of CRISPR-Cas9.

CONCLUSIONS

Research on CRISPR-Cas9 should prioritise the broadly supported applications of the technology. Research and public debates on CRISPR-Cas9, its uses, its broader implications, and the governance of CRISPR-Cas9 are recommended. A discourse that includes all perspectives can contribute to the embedding of future uses of CRISPR-Cas9 in society. This study shows that Q methodology followed by group discussions enables citizens to contribute meaningfully to discourses about research.

A Framework for Ethical Research and Innovation

In this contribution, we set out a framework for ethical research and innovation. Our framework draws upon recent scholarly work recommending the introduction of new models at the intersection of ethics, strategy, and science and technology studies to inform and explicate how the decisions of researchers can be considered ethical. Ethical research and innovation is construed in our framework as a dynamic process emerging from decisions of multiple stakeholders in innovation ecosystems prior to, during and after the execution of a research and innovation project. The framework can be used by different types of research organizations to implement governance models of ethical research and innovation.

The anatomy of electronic patient record ethics: a framework to guide design, development, implementation, and use

BACKGROUND

This manuscript presents a framework to guide the identification and assessment of ethical opportunities and challenges associated with electronic patient records (EPR). The framework is intended to support designers, software engineers, health service managers, and end-users to realise a responsible, robust and reliable EPR-enabled healthcare system that delivers safe, quality assured, value conscious care.

METHODS

Development of the EPR applied ethics framework was preceded by a scoping review which mapped the literature related to the ethics of EPR technology. The underlying assumption behind the framework presented in this manuscript is that ethical values can inform all stages of the EPR-lifecycle from design, through development, implementation, and practical application.

RESULTS

The framework is divided into two parts: context and core functions. The first part 'context' entails clarifying: the purpose(s) within which the EPR exists or will exist; the interested parties and their relationships; and the regulatory, codes of professional conduct and organisational policy frame of reference. Understanding the context is required before addressing the second part of the framework which focuses on EPR 'core functions' of data collection, data access, and digitally-enabled healthcare.

CONCLUSIONS

The primary objective of the EPR Applied Ethics Framework is to help identify and create value and benefits rather than to merely prevent risks. It should therefore be used to steer an EPR project to success rather than be seen as a set of inhibitory rules. The framework is adaptable to a wide range of EPR categories and can cater for new and evolving EPR-enabled healthcare priorities. It is therefore an iterative tool that should be revisited as new EPR-related state-of-affairs, capabilities or activities emerge.

Ethics parallel research: an approach for (early) ethical guidance of biomedical innovation

Background

Our human societies and certainly also (bio) medicine are more and more permeated with technology. There seems to be an increasing awareness among bioethicists that an effective and comprehensive approach to ethically guide these emerging biomedical innovations into society is needed. Such an approach has not been spelled out yet for bioethics, while there are frequent calls for ethical guidance of biomedical innovation, also by biomedical researchers themselves. New and emerging biotechnologies require anticipation of possible effects and implications, meaning the scope is not evaluative after a technology has been fully developed or about hypothetical technologies, but real-time for a real biotechnology.

Main text

In this paper we aim to substantiate and discuss six ingredients that we increasingly see adopted by ethicists and that together constitute “ethics parallel research”. This approach allows to fulfil two aims: guiding the development process of technologies in biomedicine and providing input for the normative evaluation of such technologies. The six ingredients of ethics parallel research are: (1) disentangling wicked problems, (2) upstream or midstream ethical analysis, (3) ethics from within, (4) inclusion of empirical research, (5) public participation and (6) mapping societal impacts, including hard and soft impacts. We will draw on gene editing, organoid technology and artificial intelligence as examples to illustrate these six ingredients.

Conclusion

Ethics parallel research brings together these ingredients to ethically analyse and proactively or parallel guide technological development. It widens the roles and judgements from the ethicist to a more anticipatory and constructively guiding role. Ethics parallel research is characterised by a constructive, rather than a purely critical perspective, it focusses on developing best-practices rather than outlining worst practice, and draws on insights from social sciences and philosophy of technology.

AMICAI: A Method Based on Risk Analysis to Integrate Responsible Research and Innovation into the Work of Research and Innovation Practitioners

The integration of ethics into the day-to-day work of research and innovation (R&I) is an important but difficult challenge. However, with the Aachen method for identification, classification and risk analysis of innovation-based problems (AMICAI) an approach from an engineering perspective is presented that enables the integration of ethical, legal and social implications into the day-to-day work of R&I practitioners. AMICAI appears in particular capable of providing a procedural guidance for R&I practitioners based on a method established in engineering science, breaking down the object of consideration into partial aspects and prioritizing the innovation-based problems in dependence of potential risk. This enables the user to apply AMICAI continuously during all stages of the research and development (R&D) process and to analyze and choose between certain sociotechnical alternatives. In this way, problems that affect ethical, legal, and social aspects can be understood, reflected and considered in the mostly technically focused R&D process. The paper gives a general guidance about AMICAI by describing principles and assumptions, providing the steps of analysis and application aids, giving an example application, explaining the necessary adjustments of AMICAI compared to the methodical basis of failure mode, effects, and criticality analysis and discussing the advantages and limits. AMICAI's simple applications can stimulate interdisciplinary cooperation in the R&D process and be a starting point for the development of an "open RRI risk analysis platform" allowing society to evaluate innovation-based problems.

Practices of Responsible Research and Innovation: A Review

This paper presents results of a systematic literature review of RRI practices which aimed to gather insights to further both the theoretical and practical development of RRI. Analysing practices of RRI and mapping out main approaches as well as the values, dimensions or characteristics pursued with those practices, can add to understanding of the more conceptual discussions of RRI and enhance the academic debate. The results, based on a corpus of 52 articles, show that practices already reflect the rich variety of values, dimensions and characteristics provided in the main definitions in use, although not all are addressed yet. In fact, articles dealing with uptake of RRI practices may be improved by including more methodological information. RRI practices may further the conceptual debate by including more reflection, and these may foster mutual responsiveness between theory and practice by early anticipating impacts.

AWOSE - A Process Model for Incorporating Ethical Analyses in Agile Systems Engineering

Ethical, legal and social implications are widely regarded as important considerations with respect to technological developments. Agile Worth-Oriented Systems Engineering (AWOSE) is an innovative approach to incorporating ethically relevant criteria during agile development processes through a flexibly applicable methodology. First, a predefined model for the ethical evaluation of socio-technical systems is used to assess ethical issues according to different dimensions. The second part of AWOSE ensures that ethical issues are not only identified, but also systematically considered during the design of systems based on information and communication technology. For this purpose, the findings from the first step are integrated with approaches from worth-centered development into a process model that, unlike previous approaches to ethical system development, is thoroughly compatible with agile methodologies like Scrum or Extreme Programming. Artifacts of worth-centered development called Worth Maps have been improved to guide the prioritization of development tasks as well as choices among design alternatives with respect to ethical implications. Furthermore, the improved Worth Maps facilitate the identification of suitable criteria for system evaluations in association to ethical concerns and desired positive outcomes of system usage. The potential of the AWOSE methodology has been demonstrated in the context of a technical system (smart glasses for cognitive assistance) that supports elderly and people with particular handicaps.

What constitutes expertise in research ethics and integrity?

In this paper we reflect on the looming question of what constitutes expertise in ethics. Based on an empirical program that involved qualitative and quantitative as well as participatory research elements we show that expertise in research ethics and integrity is based on experience in the assessment processes. We then connect traditional concepts of expertise as “improved performance” with deliberate practice activities and, based on our research findings, show that ethical assessment experience is a form of deliberate practice. This in our view has further ramifications in the design and recruitment processes of ethical assessment units performing research ethics and integrity assessment.

Stakeholders’ Views on Responsible Assessments of Assistive Technologies through an Ethical HTA Matrix

Assessments of novel assistive technologies for use in home-based services has been documented to be performed in a variety of ways and often with a rather narrow focus on safety and effect or effectiveness. In order better to understand the place for wider forms of assessments of assistive technologies, the current study presents a combination of the Ethical Matrix and the Socratic approach for assessment of health technologies—the Ethical HTA Matrix. This matrix was filled with content based on a case of a GPS localization system, which was validated by stakeholders. In a next step, central decision-makers in assistive technologies and stakeholders were interviewed concerning their views on this methodology. Mainly, the matrix was seen as very comprehensive, but too detailed with an abundance of information. Nevertheless, some informants suggested concrete uses of the matrix in their organizations. Some understood the matrix more as an epistemic tool aiming at providing an overview of the state of knowledge, while others identified a normative potential in the matrix that could be implemented in health innovation processes for the home-based services, in particular when discussing novel solutions and working methods with health professionals and care workers.

Moving from value sensitive design to virtuous practice design

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop a critique of value sensitive design (VSD) and to propose an alternative approach that does not depart from a heuristic of value(s), but from virtue ethics, called virtuous practice design (VPD).

Design/methodology/approach

This paper develops a philosophical argument, draws from a philosophical method (i.e. virtue ethics) and applies this method to a particular case study that draws from a narrative interview.

Findings

In this paper, authors show how an approach that takes virtue instead of value as the central notion for aiming at a design that is sensitive to ethical concerns can be fruitful both in theory and in practice.

Originality/value

This paper presents the first attempt to ground an approach aimed at ethical technology design on the tradition of virtue ethics. As such, it presents VPD as a potentially fruitful alternative to VSD.

Unmet Needs in Children With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder-Can Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Fill the Gap? Promises and Ethical Challenges

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a disorder most frequently diagnosed in children and adolescents. Although ADHD can be effectively treated with psychostimulants, a significant proportion of patients discontinue treatment because of adverse events or insufficient improvement of symptoms. In addition, cognitive abilities that are frequently impaired in ADHD are not directly targeted by medication. Therefore, additional treatment options, especially to improve cognitive abilities, are needed. Because of its relatively easy application, well-established safety, and low cost, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a promising additional treatment option. Further research is needed to establish efficacy and to integrate this treatment into the clinical routine. In particular, limited evidence regarding the use of tDCS in children, lack of clear translational guidelines, and general challenges in conducting research with vulnerable populations pose a number of practical and ethical challenges to tDCS intervention studies. In this paper, we identify and discuss ethical issues related to research on tDCS and its potential therapeutic use for ADHD in children and adolescents. Relevant ethical issues in the tDCS research for pediatric ADHD center on safety, risk/benefit ratio, information and consent, labeling problems, and nonmedical use. Following an analysis of these issues, we developed a list of recommendations that can guide clinicians and researchers in conducting ethically sound research on tDCS in pediatric ADHD.