Ethics In Big Data

Research Meets Ethics

Each research meets ethics when decisions must be made about how to answer the research question. In research ethics come up:

• When research passes the ethics commission or other kind of approval

• When the fieldwork is set

• When the fieldwork is done

• When survey questions are formed

• When an informed consent is made or signed by the ones participating in research

• When a decision must be made if someone can participate in research

• When the data is collected

• When the data is analyzed

• When the research question is answered

• When the research is presented to peers or public

Big Data VS Other Data Research

Big Data is unorganized information. This is because Big Data is most of the time data that is collected in research, but not used upfront. Sometimes it is even a combination of research done earlier. The police do this with cold cases. Nowadays it is also used in (scientific) research and business. The data is there (Big Data) and a researcher dive into the data to find something. It is a new way of looking at the data, because there is no knowledge upfront what will be found in the Big Data. There is hope that it will answer unsolved (research)questions.

Big Data And Ethics

Big Data most of the time brings society further because it enriches research. Cold cases are solved, new medicines are discovered, etc. The Big questions with Big Data are:

• Can all Big Data be used without consent?

• Is a researcher allowed to combine research from different studies?

• Is the outcome of Big Data more important than the privacy of those in the research?

Just some of the questions that society has to deal with when Big Data is used.

Big Data In eCourse Laudius

In the Big Data eCourse I co-made for Laudius there is a whole chapter dedicated to ethics and Big Data. Therefore 10 rules are shared just like with the ’10 geboden’ in Christianity which are important when working with Big Data. It is up to the researcher, the ethics commission or/and society to be the judges when Big Data research meets ethic rules to judge if it is allowed or not.

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