The Ethics of Big Data and Nursing Science

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 300-302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Constance L. Milton

Big data is a scientific, social, and technological trend referring to the process and size of datasets available for analysis. Ethical implications arise as healthcare disciplines, including nursing, struggle over questions of informed consent, privacy, ownership of data, and its possible use in epistemology. The author offers straight-thinking possibilities for the use of big data in nursing science.

Author(s):  
Steve Bruce

It is right that social researchers consider the ethical implications of their work, but discussion of research ethics has been distorted by the primacy of the ‘informed consent’ model for policing medical interventions. It is remarkably rare for the data collection phase of social research to be in any sense harmful, and in most cases seeking consent from, say, members of a church congregation would disrupt the naturally occurring phenomena we wish to study. More relevant is the way we report our research. It is in the disparity between how people would like to see themselves described and explained and how the social researcher describes and explains them that we find the greatest potential for ill-feeling, and even here it is slight.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 36
Author(s):  
Michael Weinhardt

While big data (BD) has been around for a while now, the social sciences have been comparatively cautious in its adoption for research purposes. This article briefly discusses the scope and variety of BD, and its research potential and ethical implications for the social sciences and sociology, which derive from these characteristics. For example, BD allows for the analysis of actual (online) behavior and the analysis of networks on a grand scale. The sheer volume and variety of data allow for the detection of rare patterns and behaviors that would otherwise go unnoticed. However, there are also a range of ethical issues of BD that need consideration. These entail, amongst others, the imperative for documentation and dissemination of methods, data, and results, the problems of anonymization and re-identification, and the questions surrounding the ability of stakeholders in big data research and institutionalized bodies to handle ethical issues. There are also grave risks involved in the (mis)use of BD, as it holds great value for companies, criminals, and state actors alike. The article concludes that BD holds great potential for the social sciences, but that there are still a range of practical and ethical issues that need addressing.


2021 ◽  

The use of big data is becoming increasingly important across the tourism sector and the value chain. With this publication, UNWTO intends to provide a baseline research on using big data by tourism and culture stakeholders, in order to improve the competitiveness of cultural tourism and reinforce its sustainability. The study sets the basis to connect tourism, culture and new technologies for mutual benefits, while calling for a reflection on the ethical implications for policymakers, businesses and end-users. The selection of case studies illustrates the most frequent case-scenarios of the use of big data in cultural tourism within destinations, compiled during the research. As the new technologies are facing ever-evolving scenarios, their use will be harnessed by the tourism sector in its endeavour to innovate and provide new cultural experiences.


2021 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-27
Author(s):  
Constance L. Milton

The advancement of a healthcare discipline is reliant on the disciplines’ ability to produce rigorous scholarship activities and products. The healthcare disciplines, especially nursing, are facing ever-changing priorities as shortages loom and exhaustion permeates the climate. Empirical public health priorities during the pandemic have dominated professional healthcare literature and global health communications. This article shall offer ethical implications for the discipline of nursing as it seeks the advancement of scholarship. Topics include straight-thinking issues surrounding nursing and medicine national policy statements, the big data movement, and evolutionary return of competency-based nurse education.


Author(s):  
Valerie Gutmann Koch

This chapter highlights the uses and ethical implications of preimplantation genetic testing and addresses the topic of liability as it applies to use of this technology to screen and select embryos for chromosomal abnormalities and genetic traits prior to implantation. When errors or wrongs occur, there may be significant medical, psychological, and economic implications for those individuals who sought preimplantation testing to avoid a genetic disease or to improve the chance of achieving pregnancy. Informed consent, wrongful birth, and wrongful life claims may be available to those who are harmed due to these errors.


Author(s):  
Mary Ann G. Cutter

Philosophically speaking, the question “What are the ethical implications of understanding breast cancer?” raises a host of issues, including informed consent, risk assessment, and access to breast cancer care. What we find is that, initially, there are adequate guidelines for informed consent, adequate efforts to develop risk assessment measures, and a decent level of access to breast cancer care in the United States. But things can be improved from an ethical standpoint. Upon reflection, the informed consent process would benefit from a more explicit discussion of uncertainty in breast cancer medicine and the ways breast cancer patients make decisions about their care. Risk assessments would benefit from a more personalized approach. Access to breast cancer care could be improved by continued studies of the diverse forces that limit access to proper breast cancer care.


2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 539-544 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliet R. Aiken ◽  
Paul J. Hanges

Big data is becoming a buzzword in today's corporate language and lay discussions. From individually targeting advertising based on previous consumer behavior or Internet searches to debates by Congress concerning National Security Agency (NSA) access to phone metadata, the era of big data has arrived. Thus, the Guzzo, Fink, King, Tonidandel, and Landis (2015) discussion of the challenges (e.g., confidentiality, informed consent) that big data projects present to industrial and organizational (I-O) psychologists is timely. If the hype associated with these techniques is warranted, then our field has a clear imperative to debate the ethics and best practices surrounding use of these techniques. We believe that Guzzo et al. have done our field a service by starting this discussion.


2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 555-563 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam J. Ducey ◽  
Nigel Guenole ◽  
Sara P. Weiner ◽  
Hailey A. Herleman ◽  
Robert E. Gibby ◽  
...  

In this response to Guzzo, Fink, King, Tonidandel, and Landis (2015), we suggest industrial–organizational (I-O) psychologists join business analysts, data scientists, statisticians, mathematicians, and economists in creating the vanguard of expertise as we acclimate to the reality of analytics in the world of big data. We enthusiastically accept their invitation to share our perspective that extends the discussion in three key areas of the focal article—that is, big data sources, logistic and analytic challenges, and data privacy and informed consent on a global scale. In the subsequent sections, we share our thoughts on these critical elements for advancing I-O psychology's role in leveraging and adding value from big data.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document