ethical issues in research essay

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Research Article

Exploring the ethical issues in research using digital data collection strategies with minors: A scoping review

Contributed equally to this work with: Danica Facca, Maxwell J. Smith, Jacob Shelley, Daniel Lizotte, Lorie Donelle

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliation Faculty of Information and Media Studies, Western University, London, ON, Canada

Affiliation School of Health Studies, Western University, London, ON, Canada

Current address: Faculty of Law, Western University, London, ON, Canada

Current address: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Western University, London, ON, Canada

Affiliation Department of Computer Science, Western University, London, ON, Canada

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing, Western University, London, ON, Canada

• Danica Facca, 
• Maxwell J. Smith, 
• Jacob Shelley, 
• Daniel Lizotte, 
• Lorie Donelle

• Published: August 27, 2020
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0237875
• Reader Comments

While emerging digital health technologies offer researchers new avenues to collect real-time data, little is known about current ethical dimensions, considerations, and challenges that are associated with conducting digital data collection in research with minors. As such, this paper reports the findings of a scoping review which explored existing literature to canvass current ethical issues that arise when using digital data collection in research with minors. Scholarly literature was searched using electronic academic databases for articles that provided explicit ethical analysis or presented empirical research that directly addressed ethical issues related to digital data collection used in research with minors. After screening 1,156 titles and abstracts, and reviewing 73 full-text articles, 20 articles were included in this review. Themes which emerged across the reviewed literature included: consent, data handling, minors’ data rights, observing behaviors that may result in risk of harm to participants or others, private versus public conceptualizations of data generated through social media, and gatekeeping. Our findings indicate a degree of uncertainty which invariably exists with regards to the ethics of research that involves minors and digital technology. The reviewed literature suggests that this uncertainty can often lead to the preclusion of minors from otherwise important lines of research inquiry. While uncertainty warrants ethical consideration, increased ethical scrutiny and restricting the conduct of such research raises its own ethical challenges. We conclude by discussing and recommending the ethical merits of co-producing ethical practice between researchers and minors as a mechanism to proceed with such research while addressing concerns around uncertainty.

Citation: Facca D, Smith MJ, Shelley J, Lizotte D, Donelle L (2020) Exploring the ethical issues in research using digital data collection strategies with minors: A scoping review. PLoS ONE 15(8): e0237875. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0237875

Editor: Ghislaine JMW van Thiel, Utrecht University Medical Center, NETHERLANDS

Received: April 1, 2020; Accepted: August 4, 2020; Published: August 27, 2020

Copyright: © 2020 Facca et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files.

Funding: This work was supported by the Western University Faculty of Health Sciences Emerging Team grant.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Introduction

Much has been written about the ethics of conducting research with minors, due in part to the distinctive ethical issues that emerge when conducting research with this population [ 1 , 2 ]. Similarly, there is an emerging body of literature about the ethics of research practices that include digital data (sometimes characterized as ‘big data’) collection via digital technologies (e.g., smartphones). However, the ethical dimensions, considerations, and challenges that are associated with digital data collection in research involving minors remains unclear. Notably, does research that involves the generation and/or collection of digital data among minors present unique ethical challenges? What are those challenges and how might researchers best manage or mitigate the ethical dimensions and challenges within a digital technology context? This scoping review explores existing literature to understand and anticipate the ethical issues associated with collecting digitally derived research data with minors in addition to possible resolutions that can be put forward based on the reviewed literature.

Minors and digital data

One challenge worth noting at the outset of this review is that there is no consensus as to the definition of a minor; two broad approaches could therefore be adopted for present purposes [ 3 , 4 ]. The first defines a minor as any child who has not reached the age of majority, generally thought to be under the age of 18. The problem with this definition is that the age of majority varies by jurisdiction. Two notable documents which have been extremely influential in research ethics to the extent that many countries base their regulations on their guidelines, the Declaration of Helsinki [ 5 ] and the International Ethical Guidelines for Health-related Research Involving Humans [ 6 ], discuss age of majority and minors’ participation in research.

For example, within the North American context, the age of majority is 18 in some Canadian provinces like Ontario, Alberta, and New Brunswick, and 19 in other Canadian provinces like British Columbia, Nova Scotia, and the territory of Nunavut. Similar to Canada, in the United States, the age of majority also varies by state. In some U.S. states like Colorado, Idaho, and Minnesota the age of majority is 18, in others like Alabama and Nebraska it is 19, and in Mississippi it is 21. Within a European context, the age of majority in all EU Member States is 18 except for Scotland where it is 16 [ 7 ]. Additionally, the age of majority may depend on context. For example, in the Canadian province of Ontario, the age of majority is 18, but Ontario legislation dictates that one has to be 19 to purchase alcohol, suggesting that, in the context of alcohol purchases, an 18-year-old is a “minor”. Further, in some EU Member States, a minor will gain full legal capacity if they are married or become pregnant before reaching the age of majority [ 7 ], suggesting that, in the context of a marital contract or pregnancy, a minor can become an adult with full legal capacity even if they are under 18.

The second approach to defining a minor is based on capacity. This is consistent with established ethical guidelines which build on the Declaration of Helsinki [ 5 ] and the International Ethical Guidelines for Health-related Research Involving Humans [ 6 ] such as the Tri-Council Policy Statement : Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans [ 8 ]. According to the Tri-Council Policy Statement : Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans , if a child is “mature sufficiently to decide on their own behalf (subject to legal requirements), the researcher must seek the children’s autonomous consent in order for their participation to continue” [ 8 ]. For our purposes, it is not necessary that we resolve this issue, as our interest is in how others have addressed the issue of digital data collection in research with minors. As identified in Table 1 below, we adopted a broad approach, using keywords in our search intended as over-inclusive.

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0237875.t001

A second challenge worth noting is specifying what exactly is meant by “digital data”. For our purposes, while there may be overlap with what is otherwise termed ‘big data’—defined by the volume, variety, complexity, speed and value of the data—we broadly define digital data as electronic data or information however collected [ 9 ]. As Lupton notes: “People’s interactions online, their use of mobile and wearable devices and other ‘smart’ objects and their movements in sensor-embedded spaces all generate multiple and constant flows of digital data, often about intensely personal actions and preferences, social relationships and bodily functions and movements” [ 10 ]. It is in this data that our review is primarily interested.

A multi-disciplinary research team was established to undertake this scoping review, with expertise in computer science, digital health, ethics, law, and public health. The scoping review was conducted according to Arksey and O’Malley’s [ 11 ] five stage framework which included: 1) identifying the research question/s; 2) identifying relevant studies; 3) selecting relevant studies; 4) charting the data; 5) aggregating, summarizing, and reporting the results. The research team consulted a research librarian who refined the initial search strategy and recommended databases to search given the context, subject, and population of interest.

Literature search

To address the research question, scholarly literature was searched using four categories of keywords: ethical issues , digital data collection , research , and minors ( Table 1 ). While initially considered, the search term ‘internet’ was purposefully excluded given the high volume of irrelevant articles captured in the search; the term ‘internet’ is so ubiquitous that it was not helpful to discriminate articles that addressed the purpose of the scoping review. Boolean search operators “AND” and “OR” were used to combine keywords between and within categories. Searches were conducted in PubMed and Scopus databases.

Articles were eligible for inclusion if they: were written in English; discussed the context of interest (i.e., research), subject of interest (i.e., digital data collection), population of interest (i.e., minors), and provided an explicit ethical analysis or presented empirical research that directly addressed ethical issues arising from the topic of interest (i.e., using digital data collection in research with minors). Upon completion of the search, duplicate articles were removed, and search results were screened by title and abstract for eligibility. Screening of abstracts was undertaken by a primary reviewer and confirmed by a second reviewer. Articles which passed the abstract screening were then retrieved in full-text and further screened for eligibility by a secondary reviewer and confirmed by two additional reviewers. Articles were summarized, and characteristics were charted, including: author(s), year of publication, database source, and ethical considerations. Reference lists of full-text articles were searched and eligible articles charted. Articles were thematically coded through multiple iterative discussions among three reviewers. A narrative account of key thematic findings is presented according to each identified theme.

Search strategy

The search strategy and results are summarized ( Fig 1 ). Searching academic databases identified 1,170 abstracts, with 1,156 remaining following the removal of duplicates. Preliminary screening of abstracts identified 73 articles for full-text screening, of which 20 articles met the inclusion criteria. Hand searching reference lists did not identify any additional relevant articles, resulting in a total of 20 articles for inclusion in the scoping review.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0237875.g001

Scholarly literature characteristics

The majority of articles included in the review were published after 2014 ( n = 14, 70%) and originated from the USA ( n = 6, 30%), Australia ( n = 6, 30%), and the UK ( n = 3, 15%). More than half were original research ( n = 11, 55%), including five qualitative studies (5/11, 45%). Overall, half of the articles ( n = 10, 50%) focused on general ethical concerns with web- or internet-based digital data collection methods. Five articles ( n = 5, 25%) focused specifically on the ethical concerns of using social media as a means of digital data collection. In general, social media ( n = 9, 45%) was the most popular means of digital data collection. Facebook ( n = 8/9, 88%) was the most popular platform identified, followed by Myspace ( n = 3/9, 33%), YouTube ( n = 2/9, 22%), Skype ( n = 1/9, 11%), and Twitter ( n = 1/9, 11%). Touch-screen technology was the second most popular means of digital data collection identified ( n = 6, 30%) and included smartphones ( n = 5/6, 83%) and tablets ( n = 3/6, 50%). The remainder of digital data collection means included online forums ( n = 4, 20%), computers ( n = 2, 10%), internet-based surveys ( n = 2, 10%), and an electronic health record system ( n = 1, 5%). Of the participant samples described in the original research articles ( n = 5), the majority age range of minors was 14 years of age and under ( n = 3). One study focused on minors between 14 and 17 years of age, while another study focused on minors between 7 and 17 years of age ( Table 2 ).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0237875.t002

The thematic analysis generated 6 themes that addressed ethical considerations regarding digital data collection in research with minors which included: consent, data handling, minors’ data rights, observing behaviors that may result in risk of harm to participants or others, private versus public conceptualizations of data generated with social media, and gatekeeping. Although these themes can generally be applied to any research that leverages digital data collection, two out of the six themes, minors’ data rights and gatekeeping, warrant greater attention as they uniquely apply to conducting research when the population of interest is minors. The following sections detail the ethical issues raised according to each theme. For purposes of this review, the term minors is used interchangeably with any age descriptor identified in the reviewed literature (i.e., child/ren, kid/s, teen/s, adolescent/s, infant/s).

Consent is an ethical requirement when conducting research with human participants. General principles of consent under policies that inform research practices like the Tri-Council Policy Statement : Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans [ 8 ], mandate that an individual’s consent must be given voluntarily and can be withdrawn at any time along with their data or biological materials upon request should they choose to withdraw their participation. To make such a decision, policies like the Tri-Council Policy Statement : Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans recommend that consent be determined by an individual’s decision-making capacity, that is, their ability “to understand relevant information presented (e.g., purpose of the research, foreseeable risks, and potential benefits), and to appreciate the potential consequences of any decision they make based upon this information” [ 8 ], rather than relying on age.

Autonomy, or the capacity needed to appreciate and understand the relevant information presented about a study in order to make an informed voluntary decision [ 8 ], is a necessary condition for consent. When it comes to involving minors in research, consent can be achieved in one of two ways: the researcher/s may obtain consent from the minor if it is determined that they have the capacity to make such an autonomous decision. Alternatively, the researcher/s may obtain consent from an authorized third party, like a parent or guardian, if it is determined that the minor does not have the capacity to make such an autonomous decision. If consent is obtained by an authorized third party, then assent to participate in the proposed research is sought from the minor. Consent by an authorized third party and assent are both needed for participation in research where it has been determined that a minor lacks autonomous decision-making capacity [ 8 ].

Numerous articles included in this review highlighted consent and assent as an ethical imperative when using digital data collection in research with minors [ 12 – 18 ]. Given the various geographical contexts of the research literature, the legal and ethical guidelines which determined the authors’ approaches to using digital data collection with minors varied respectively. Parsons [ 17 ] drew attention to digital data collection using digital technologies and the implications of this for participant recruitment and obtaining participant consent. Parsons [ 17 ] argued that digital technologies have the potential to support prospective participants’ autonomy, engagement, and decision making by: improving the accessibility of the research information; increasing motivation to take part in the study; and enhancing competency to inform decision-making. The author [ 17 ] further mentioned that digital technologies could be leveraged to make participant recruitment more inclusive, especially for minors with physical or learning disabilities. For example, using a laptop to present written text to prospective participants could give researchers the ability to tailor font size and color, background color, symbols, and computer-generated speech which can be paused, played, or slowed down, according to a minor’s needs [ 17 ]. Touch interfaces, like a tablet, were also a way to enhance recruitment and consent possibilities as they tended to be intuitive to users and did “not add unnecessary complexity to the learning process” [ 17 ].

Cowie and Khoo [ 12 ] approached issues of consent when using digital data collection in research with minors whereby minors are recognized as social actors and experts in their own lives. To this end, they informed prospective minor participants of the research aims and processes using multiple strategies to support minors’ decision to consent or dissent to participation in the research. They sent home a general newsletter about the study; created an interactive website about the study and research team for minors and their parents to view and discuss at home; and asked the minors’ teachers to explain the research aims in school [ 12 ]. Cowie and Khoo emphasized that once consent or assent is obtained from a minor participant in any study, researchers should treat it as provisional, that is to say, “ongoing and dependent on researcher-researched and inter-participant relationships…built upon sensitivity, reciprocal trust and collaboration” [ 12 ]. Treating consent as provisional and ongoing necessitates that researchers assess participants’ voluntariness at each point of contact and remind them of their right to withdraw their participation at any time [ 12 ].

Researchers [ 12 , 17 ] also advocated for the use of digital technologies to facilitate the consent process as they offer “possibilities for multimodal/multimedia communication that improves the accessibility of research information beyond the inclusion of different fonts, formatting styles and images” [ 12 ]. For example, the use of digital video clips to recruit, inform, and debrief minor participants in an interactive manner engaged participants more effectively than a paper printout [ 12 ]. When considering the integral role and ethical imperative of obtaining consent from minors, Cowie and Khoo emphasized that the “onus is on researchers to use appropriate methods to achieve…consent in a way that scaffolds children’s understanding and encourages and maintains their voluntary and positive participation” [ 12 ].

One scoping review conducted by Hokke et al. [ 19 ] which explored the ethical issues of digital data collection in research with minors (i.e., using the internet to recruit prospective participants for family and child research) also discussed the challenges of obtaining consent and assent. In their review of research, they concluded that minor consent and parental consent was more complex and ethically challenging when facilitated through online means, rather than face to face interaction [ 19 ]. Many of the studies reviewed by the authors [ 19 ] noted that obtaining consent through online means posed a risk that minors would fraudulently complete their parents’ online consent form. To circumvent this risk, they [ 19 ] contacted prospective participants online, and then obtained verbal consent over the phone to assess parents’ and minors’ understanding of the research aims, procedures, and risks using back-questioning techniques.

Depending on the topic of interest, Hokke et al. [ 19 ] noted that waiving parental consent might in fact be a methodological and ethical necessity. For example, two US studies waived parental consent out of ethical necessity [ 20 , 21 ] to collect digital data from gay and bisexual minors as they were considered to be at risk if they had to disclose their sexual identity to their parents as part of the consent process. Further, where the law required parental consent for a minor’s participation in research, researchers identified this as a possible deterrent for minors’ participation as some minors may be reluctant to ask their parents for permission [ 19 ].

Data handling

One ethical imperative about the use of digital data collection with minors that was consistent throughout the reviewed literature was the importance of safeguarding data [ 8 ]. Safeguarding practices mentioned by researchers in the current review included data encryption, storage location, and secure server technology [ 14 , 15 , 22 – 24 ].

Some researchers [ 25 ] stressed that the various ethical issues at stake when handling digitally derived data depended on whether the data was actively, or passively, collected. For Schwab-Reese et al. [ 25 ], active data collection methods closely aligned with traditional data collection methods as they consist of direct interaction with research participants, even if the interaction is facilitated through electronic means [ 25 ]. Active data collection methods required participants to actively engage in the data collection process; in direct conversation with the researcher, or in responding to survey questions. For example, a researcher may ask a series of questions in real-time through a social media app to which a participant can give an immediate response. Alternatively, passive data collection methods aligned with secondary data analysis as they do not require direct interaction with participants, but rather, aggregate and analyze large sets of existing data [ 25 ]. For example, a researcher may monitor the number of hours a participant spends on a certain app, like Twitter, and therefore does not need to be in direct contact with the participant to collect that data in real-time.

Since a researcher would have direct contact with participants when using active data collection methods, informed consent or assent processes follow suit as standard practice [ 25 ]; the participant would be made aware that whatever data they produced in that given research context would be given over to the researcher for analysis. Examples of active digital data collection methods include crowdsourcing (i.e., most commonly done through websites where an open call for participation is issued for users to complete a short survey), or, online recruitment (i.e., most commonly done through websites or social media). Using active digital data collection methods in research with minors may not pose any additive ethical issues beyond those mentioned earlier when considering consent/assent processes as well as the degree to which the data are safeguarded through encryption, server technology, and storage location.

However, passive data collection methods proved to be more ethically challenging for researchers [ 25 ] when considering users’ privacy expectations about their digital data. Since passive data collection methods, according to Schwab-Reese et al. [ 25 ], are predicated on analyzing existing data, this means researchers may not have to necessarily seek out consent or assent from users which could be considered ethically problematic (e.g., does the user consider their digital data on a social media platform, like Twitter, private or public information?). Methods of passive digital data collection include internet search queries (e.g., Google Search Trends, which regularly updates a database of aggregated internet queries), forum postings (e.g., as found on a website like Reddit, or social media platform like Facebook), or social media user activity (e.g., analyzing Twitter users’ tweets, likes, retweets, use of certain hashtags, etc.).

To address the ethical queries related to the use of passive digital data collection methods with minors, researchers consulted guidelines from the Association of Internet Researchers [ 26 ] that recommended consideration of the following: what constitutes ‘engaging with a human subject’; definitions of private and public space; and finally, tensions between regulatory and context specific ethical decision making [ 27 ].

Online forums and social media platforms offer vast research opportunities for publicly available and passively collected data. On the surface, research processes required for ethical research ‘engagement with a human subject’ would not seemingly apply to the collection of publicly available online data. However, Schwab-Reese et al. noted that while passive data collection studies typically dealt with “aggregated or de-identified data…recent research suggests de-identified datasets often contain sufficient personal information to potentially identify individuals” [ 25 ]. Current recommendations for the ethical practice of online and publicly available passive data collection may exempt researchers from the customary oversight of an institutional ethics review board or regulatory body. Instead, researchers are recommending the establishment of “an external advisory committee to critically process the potential harms, vulnerabilities, benefits, and so forth, even if the research does not directly engage with human subjects and thus, does not explicitly require intuitional ethics review” [ 25 ]. They suggest this may be best practice moving forward in order to deal with research that digitally collects “person-based data without direct human contact” [ 25 ].

Ethical research practices pertaining to defining public and private space with respect to digital data collection methods should “carefully consider the expectations of the individuals who are creating the data” [ 25 ]. Different from active digital data collection methods, where prospective participants would be informed as to how their digital data was to be used for research purposes, this may not necessarily be the case with passive digital data collection methods. For example, “the creator of a public blog or social media profile which is viewable by anyone may have a lower expectation of privacy than in a private forum that requires log-in by members” [ 25 ]. Therefore, if researchers seek to passively collect digital data from minor participants, a combined approach of both active and passive data collection methods may be appropriate to understand the privacy expectations of prospective participants (active) before using their preexisting data or monitoring their behavior (passive).

Lastly, Schwab-Reese et al. acknowledged that “regulations are often intended to encourage ethical research and practice, but when applied universally without consideration, regulations may inadvertently restrict important, necessary research” [ 25 ]. With the increase of digital derived data collection, Schwab-Reese et.al. concluded that “as technology-based research moves forward, it will be important to establish firm ethical boundaries for some clearly defined issues, while encouraging flexibility and situation-based ethical decision-making for ethically grey areas” [ 25 ]. Ethical decision making on a case-by-case basis appears to be the way forward when considering the multitude of grey areas that arise when involving minors in research that uses digital data collection, whether active or passive in nature.

Benefits of using digital data collection were reported as an efficient, low cost, environmentally friendly, and convenient way to engage with a diverse range of participants across geographical boundaries [ 28 ]. However, challenges of digital data collection methods included technical aspects like data storage (servers) and security (encryption) measures, particularly as they related to the collection of personal health information [ 23 , 24 , 28 ]. Two studies mentioned a law or regulation with respect to the handling of personal health information collected through digital means [ 23 , 24 ]. One study provided an extensive discussion related to necessary actions taken to comply with Ontario’s Personal Health Information Protection Act [ 29 ] which safeguards the collection and use of personal health information [ 23 ]. Martin-Ruiz et al. [ 24 ] reported on the use of the Data Protection Impact Assessment [ 30 ], a European regulation which assesses a study’s potential risks to individual privacy [ 30 ]. In their report, the researchers addressed the six protection goals regarding the collection and use of participants’ personal data [ 24 ] which included elements such as data availability, integrity, confidentiality, unlinkability, transparency, and intervenability [ 30 ]. As exemplified in both of these studies, addressing the ethical issues associated with handling digital data took both regulatory bodies and context-specific (personal health information) ethical decision making into consideration.

Minors’ data rights.

The extent to which minors are included in discussions regarding the dissemination of their digital data for research purposes, or the sharing of their digital data with adult actors such as their parents or guardians generated through research, was frequently flagged as an ethical issue by many [ 12 , 13 , 16 , 18 , 22 , 24 , 31 ]. The contemporary issue of minors’ (digital) data rights is part of a much larger rights movement influenced by the establishment of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989 [ 13 , 22 ]. Historically, minors have been framed as a marginal group, with little, if any, opportunity to weigh in on matters (like research) that affect their social worlds [ 22 ]. The establishment of the convention signaled “the deconstruction of the protectionist paradigm of childhood [and] assigned [minors] the right to be co-producers of science and involved in all stages of research on and with them” [ 22 ] and consequently led to the emergence of childhood studies as a discipline. Opportunities for minors to be consulted and included in decision making processes is recognized by childhood studies’ scholars as a way to advance minors’ agency and autonomy within the research landscape [ 13 ].

Another ethical consideration in relation to minors’ data rights included privacy expectations of their parents/guardians [ 18 ]. Cultural and legal practices tend to normalize parent/guardian access to minors’ data held within government, healthcare or educational institutions; as such, parents/guardians may expect to have access to minors’ data collected for research purposes [ 18 ]. Drawing attention to minors’ data rights acknowledges their right to privacy over their personal data, both in an online and offline context, along with the need to obtain their consent in order to share their data with third party adult actors like their parents/guardians [ 32 ].

Observing behaviors that may result in risk of harm to participants or others

Three studies mentioned the ethical challenges of reporting risky behaviors, or potential behaviors that could result in risk, when using digital data collection in research with minors [ 15 , 33 , 34 ]. In general, conducting research with human participants “includes the risk of observing or being informed about behavior that is illegal, amoral, immoral, or otherwise illicit” [ 33 ], to which researchers have to determine a course of action. Using digital data collection methods could potentially involve collecting information about minors’ online activity, for instance on social media, which may fall outside of a research study’s objectives but nonetheless be considered as illegal, amoral, immoral, or otherwise illicit. Under ethical guidelines like the Tri-Council Policy Statement : Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans such instances are known as material incidental findings as “they are reasonably determined to have significant welfare implications for the participant or prospective participant” [ 8 ].

Researchers [ 15 , 33 ] highlighted the ongoing tension between existing laws and research ethics when conducting social media related research with minors. One study recognized that observing and responding to behaviors through social media which may harm participants or others poses complex challenges for researchers as it may be hard to decipher the parties involved (i.e., perpetrators, victims), the nature of the activity, or the proper contact to report the activity to [ 33 ]. For example, if a minor participant disclosed to a researcher that they illegally downloaded music through a social media platform, the researcher would need to decide if they would notify the participant and report the illegal activity, even if it meant jeopardizing their trust [ 33 ]. Similarly, researchers utilized the social media platform Facebook to contact under-aged women in Australia to explore the social influences of drinking alcohol [ 15 ]. Ethical challenges emerged for researchers regarding their responsibility to report incidents of illegal, amoral, immoral, or otherwise illicit behavior (i.e., photographs of inappropriate behaviors such as nudity, illegal activity) captured via online data collection against the promise of information confidentiality. Potentially reportable data was captured despite researchers’ caution to participants that “all information provided to the researcher would be treated in the strictest confidence [unless] the researcher was legally obliged to disclose information related to illegal activity if requested by relevant authorities” [ 15 ].

The ethical tension for researchers arises ‘in-between’ the requirement to disclose reportable incidents while ensuring an ethical duty of participant confidentiality whereby information obtained from a participant will remain confidential within and beyond a study [ 8 ]. While a researcher’s promise of confidentiality is central to developing and maintaining trusting relationships with participants, it “must, at times, be balanced against competing ethical considerations or legal or professional requirements that call for disclosure of information obtained or created in a research context” [ 8 ]. Depending on the topic and objective of a study, “researchers are expected to be aware of ethical codes…or laws…that may require disclosure of information they obtain in a research context” [ 8 ]. Breaching confidentiality by reporting confidential information risks losing the trust built between researcher and participant, but in some cases, it may be necessary in order to serve the greater good by protecting “the health, life or safety of a participant or a third party, a community, or the general population” [ 8 ].

Digitally collected data highlights unique tensions for researchers to maintain the integrity of the research purpose, to honor the confidentiality of participant information, and to disclose reportable events. For example, researchers [ 34 ] had to weigh the costs of constraining participants’ photographic activity against their study’s goal of equity and empowerment. They concluded that it was important “to allow youth to depict the reality of the challenges that they or their community faced without necessary constraint” [ 34 ]. Navigating the risk of harm to participants and their community proved to be complex as the authors realized minors often took photos on their own mobile phones rather than the digital cameras provided to them and uploaded the photos to their personal social media accounts to be shared on those platforms [ 34 ].

Private versus public conceptualizations of social media

A large part of the reviewed literature discussed the ongoing debate of whether social media is considered private or public domain when using digital data collection in research with minors [ 13 , 15 , 19 , 25 , 33 – 37 ]. Many articles drew attention to the shifting nature of privacy within digital spaces since “any information posted on the Internet [technically] enters a virtual public space” [ 15 ] even if it is posted with the intention of remaining private to certain audiences. Understandings of privacy depend on the context in which it is invoked as well as a user’s expectations within that context. Since there is not a clear distinction between what is considered public and private domain within the internet, and social media more generally, maintaining user privacy and limiting potential harm surfaced as key ethical challenges [ 15 , 33 , 35 , 36 ].

When using social media for research purposes, one study recommended researchers educate and ensure that their participants understand the Terms of Service associated with the social media site being used for the research project as it may lead to instances of public disclosure [ 33 ]. Another study stated that it is the researcher’s responsibility to also learn the nuances of the site’s privacy settings in order to inform their participants of the ways in which their information will be handled and, to a certain extent jeopardized, since privacy settings are not always fail-safe [ 15 ]. It was also mentioned that researchers should consider the cultural norms of the participants creating the data as well as the norms surrounding the social media platform being utilized to gauge what privacy means within these specific contexts [ 25 ].

When considering the cultural norms of the participants involved in research with social media, two studies recognized that “digital natives” [ 19 ], in other words, minors who are born into digital environments and learn how to use digital technologies from a young age, may conceptualize privacy differently than adults. For example, one article queried whether minors disclose private information on social media “without understanding or considering the permanence or far-reaching nature of online content, and without intending for their information to be used by others” [ 19 ]. While another mentioned that minors may disclose their private information on social media out of “naivety or ignorance” [ 37 ] rather than an intended disregard for their privacy and personal information.

Gatekeeping

By far the most acknowledged ethical issue pertaining to the use of digital data collection in research with minors was gatekeeping by a parent/caregiver [ 12 , 17 , 19 , 37 ], relevant stakeholders like medical professionals or educators [ 14 , 18 , 31 ] and research ethics boards [ 23 , 25 , 33 , 36 , 38 ]. While the inherent power imbalance between minors and adult researchers within the research context necessitates the need for gatekeeping by research ethics boards [ 12 , 14 ], it is important to note that “the power [parents have] as gatekeepers in the processes of…research participation…should not be under-estimated” [ 17 ]. Parents/guardians ultimately provide access to minor participants, and in some cases, consent for their participation.

Conducting research with minors, irrespective of data collection method, must account for the triadic nature of the prospective research relationship which consists of the researcher, minor, and gatekeeper. Ultimately, it is the gatekeeper who grants a researcher access to a minor’s world [ 22 ]. Depending on the gatekeeper’s relationship to the minor, whether they are a parent/guardian, educator, or REB member, a minor’s prospective participation in a study will hinge on whether it is found to be in their best interest by these gatekeepers, and whether these gatekeepers are willing to cooperate with a researcher to make the study happen. When it comes to making decisions within the research context between adults, researchers, and minors, one authors suggests that research “decision-making needs to be understood as part of a discussion or dialogue between young people, parents/caregivers and the researchers” [ 17 ].

The reviewed literature identified numerous ethical issues related to conducting digital data collection in research with minors which included: consent, data handling, minors’ data rights, observing behaviors that may result in risk of harm to participants or others, private versus public conceptualizations of social media, and gatekeeping. While these ethical issues are pertinent to any discussion of using digital data collection in research, whether they are specifically unique when conducting such research with minors as the population of interest requires deeper consideration.

Although consent arose as a common theme among many of the studies, it is not an ethical concern unique to research with minors. Consent is, at the very least, a minimum requirement for research participation. Even so, seeking assent is not a unique ethical practice for research with minors as its tenets of accountability, reciprocal trust, and consultation should be considered an ethical necessity for all populations involved in research. When using digital data collection in research with minors, specifically within the context of social media, researchers [ 33 ] highlighted the importance of maintaining an open dialogue, or as they called it, a dialogic approach , throughout the research process. Following a dialogic approach with minors when using social media as an avenue for digital data collection allows researchers to assess minors’ feelings about their posts to social media and understandings of how published research will “transform…their private information and interactions into public data” [ 33 ]. Maintaining a continual dialogue with minor participants reaffirms the notion of provisional consent and that minors’ participation and data can be withdrawn at any time upon request.

While data handling and ownership are not unique ethical challenges when conducting research, they do warrant greater attention in a digital context. Since digital data encryption, secure storage location, and access are all ethical challenges which equally apply to research with minor and adult populations, the main ethical concern with data handling in this review was the extent to which the digital environment creates concomitant opportunities for data breaches. As noted by some researchers, “the very nature of the internet introduces security and privacy issues, including potential privacy breaches through hacking and data corruption during transfer” [ 23 ]. Given that security risks within a digital context are ever-present, a top priority for researchers using digital data collection methods will be ensuring, as is possible, that no manipulation, in other words hacking, happens during the transmission, encryption, and storage of participants’ digital data [ 24 ].

Observing behaviors which assume risk, or may result in risk to participants or others, is a conventional part of conducting research with human participants. While the reviewed literature acknowledged the ethical complexity of navigating such reporting in relation to participants’ social media data, deciphering what the activity is, what parties are involved, and whether there is an authority that the activity is required to be reported to, are ethical issues which can arise in any study with any population. As mentioned by some researchers, employing digital data collection methods warrants “an ongoing dialogue amongst researchers and ethics committees and between researchers and participants around…dilemmas, as well as processes to resolve them” [ 33 ]. They noted that the “constant evolution of technologies (such as social media and search capabilities) and social practices to which they are put…means that researchers and ethics committees are not necessarily equipped to understand the consequence or implications of their research practice” [ 33 ]. Therefore, within each individual research context that employs social media as a means to collect participants’ digital data, it is important for researchers to understand the social media practices of their population and approach dilemmas by applying all of the perspectives from those involved [ 33 ].

Varied conceptualizations of whether content shared through social media falls within the public or private domain is an important ethical issue when examining digital data collection methods, however, it is not unique to conducting research with minors. Although some articles claimed that digital natives may be naive or ignorant of social media privacy settings and the implications of sharing private information within digital spaces, adult users face similar struggles. With the rapid development, uptake, and variety of social media platforms across the globe, nuances of handling one’s personal information online affects users of all ages, backgrounds, and digital literacy levels; this is especially so given the lengthy and complex jargon of Terms of Service agreements [ 33 ]. Researchers will not necessarily face more struggles when conducting research with minors using digital data collection methods, such as social media, since users of all ages may not understand the intricacies and shifting nature of online contexts to the same degree [ 39 ].

Managing minors’ data rights

Although minors’ data rights seems to point toward a unique ethical issue when conducting research with minors using digital data collection, many of the issues raised can be extended to other populations. For instance, weighing in on the treatment and dissemination of personal data for research purposes can advance the agency and autonomy of any aged participant. This is especially so given that the figure of the child tends to be positioned as “exceptional…rather than part of the wider frame of rights and the digital” [ 32 ]. While there may not be unique ethical concerns, in that other populations also have their best interests dictated by others such as the old, poor, or disabled, one might argue that where minors might differ is in their potential to be involved with research decision-making [ 32 ].

Addressing gatekeeping in research involving minors and digital technology

Institutional review boards, or research ethics boards (REBs), dictate the scope of any research project for they are most concerned with risk mitigation [ 18 ]. Although REBs seek to reduce potential harm to participants while preserving the potential benefits of a research endeavor, they “can be a problematic gatekeeper for researchers, especially for those who are seeking to conduct research in new and contentious areas like online spaces” [ 33 ]. Since there is an additive degree of uncertainty that invariably exists when considering research that involves minors as well as digital technology, REBs themselves “may not even be equipped to best guide ethical practices concerning these new areas of inquiry” [ 33 ].

Gatekeeping is a unique ethical issue concerning research with minors that involves digital data collection. Considering that minors’ use of digital technology in general raises ambivalence among adults, it is no surprise that minors’ participation in research with digital technologies faces hypervigilant gatekeeping. As one author writes, research “decision-making needs to be understood as part of a discussion or dialogue between young people, parents/caregivers and the researchers” [ 17 ]. Perhaps the ethical issue at stake is not the population or topic of interest per se, but rather, the way in which gatekeeping may impede research efforts that can provide opportunities for minors to inform and shape understandings of our uncharted digital environments.

Limitations

This review has several limitations. First, although the search strategy intended to be inclusive with its terminology, there may be relevant articles that were not captured. For example, articles may have described the context, subject, and population of interest without using ‘ethic’ or ‘moral’ in their title or abstract. This limitation also extends to the hand searched reference lists as only titles were screened for inclusion. Second, the search strategy was limited to articles written in English so work which may have contributed to this ethical discussion that was written in another language was not included. Third, the search strategy did not focus on one type of digital data to be collected (e.g., health data, screen-time data) which, if refined, could have identified further ethical issues or gaps in the literature. However, this was intentionally left outside of the scoping review search strategy as we were primarily concerned with the ethical issues of using digital data collection in research with minors, rather than the type of data being collected through digital means.

As indicated at the outset of this review, our intention was to explore existing literature to understand and anticipate the ethical issues associated with collecting digitally derived research data with minors in order to forward any possible resolutions based on the reviewed literature. The reviewed literature indicated that there was no difference in ethical issues when collecting digitally derived research data with minors in comparison to other populations except for gatekeeping. Gatekeeping is a unique ethical issue when collecting digitally derived research data with minors given that it is both a necessary safety measure to ensure minors are not taken advantage of within the research context and a potential barrier to minors’ participation since digital technology is a contentious area of research. For our purposes, this ethical conundrum begets the following question: if gatekeeping is a necessary barrier to minors’ participation in research which specifically involves the collection of digitally derived research data, how do we resolve this as researchers based on the reviewed literature? Our resolution to this conundrum is to suggest that researchers co-produce ethical practice with minors.

At various points throughout the reviewed literature, it was continually suggested that any ethical issue associated with digital data collection in research with minors may be best addressed when minors are part of the research conversation and decision-making processes [ 12 , 13 , 16 – 18 , 22 , 24 , 31 , 33 ]. In this sense, co-producing ethical practice with minors is the most respectable resolution to approaching ethical dilemmas in an area of research where the technology itself, along with accompanying social practices, are constantly evolving. Co-producing ethical practice in research which collects digitally derived research data from minors could be addressed by implementing a Child and Youth Advisory Committee (CYAC) [ 37 ]. CYACs seek to balance children’s protection while supporting their participation in research [ 40 ]. In particular, CYACs have been implemented in research with minors which addressed similarly contentious topics including cyber safety [ 41 ], hazardous agricultural labor [ 42 ], self-advocacy for pediatric patients with chronic illness [ 43 ], and child rights [ 40 ].

The problem when using digital data collection in research with minors is not necessarily the minors, nor the digital technology, but the uncertainty surrounding it. Conducting research with minors, along with digital technology, compounds uncertainty and increases ethical scrutiny. Uncertainty should not lead to preclusion, but rather, to co-production of ethical practice between researchers and minors. Co-production is risk mitigation; it is not an antidote to risk but an approach to working in tandem with minors to foster best ethical practice when using digital means to collect their data within a research context.

Supporting information

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0237875.s001

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• 6. International Ethical Guidelines for Health-related Research Involving Humans, Fourth Edition. Geneva. Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences (CIOMS); 2016. Available from: https://cioms.ch/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/WEB-CIOMS-EthicalGuidelines.pdf
• 7. Mapping minimum age requirements concerning the rights of children in the EU. European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights. 2017 Nov. Available from: https://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2017/mapping-minimum-age-requirements/age-majority
• 8. Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans. 2018 Dec. Catalogue No: RR4-2/2019E-PDF. ISBN: 978-0-660-29942-6.
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• 29. Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004, S.O. 2004, c. 3, Sched. A. (March 25, 2020). Available from: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/04p03
• 30. Data Protection Impact Assessment. (March 12, 2019). Available from: https://edpb.europa.eu/our-work-tools/our-documents/topic/data-protection-impact-assessment-dpia_en

What Are the Ethical Considerations in Research Design?

When I began my work on the thesis I was always focused on my research. However, once I began to make my way through research, I realized that research ethics is a core aspect of the research work and the foundation of research design.

Research ethics play a crucial role in ensuring the responsible conduct of research. Here are some key reasons why research ethics matter:

Let us look into some of the major ethical considerations in research design.

Ethical Issues in Research

There are many organizations, like the Committee on Publication Ethics , dedicated to promoting ethics in scientific research. These organizations agree that ethics is not an afterthought or side note to the research study. It is an integral aspect of research that needs to remain at the forefront of our work.

The research design must address specific research questions. Hence, the conclusions of the study must correlate to the questions posed and the results. Also, research ethics demands that the methods used must relate specifically to the research questions.

Voluntary Participation and Consent

An individual should at no point feel any coercion to participate in a study. This includes any type of persuasion or deception in attempting to gain an individual’s trust.

Informed consent states that an individual must give their explicit consent to participate in the study. You can think of consent form as an agreement of trust between the researcher and the participants.

Sampling is the first step in research design . You will need to explain why you want a particular group of participants. You will have to explain why you left out certain people or groups. In addition, if your sample includes children or special needs individuals, you will have additional requirements to address like parental permission.

Confidentiality

The third ethics principle of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) states that: “The confidentiality of the information supplied by research subjects and the anonymity of respondents must be respected.” However, sometimes confidentiality is limited. For example, if a participant is at risk of harm, we must protect them. This might require releasing confidential information.

Risk of Harm

We should do everything in our power to protect study participants. For this, we should focus on the risk to benefit ratio. If possible risks outweigh the benefits, then we should abandon or redesign the study. Risk of harm also requires us to measure the risk to benefit ratio as the study progresses.

Research Methods

We know there are numerous research methods. However, when it comes to ethical considerations, some key questions can help us find the right approach for our studies.

i. Which methods most effectively fit the aims of your research?

ii. What are the strengths and restrictions of a particular method?

iii. Are there potential risks when using a particular research method?

For more guidance, you can refer to the ESRC Framework for Research Ethics .

Ethical issues in research can arise at various stages of the research process and involve different aspects of the study. Here are some common examples of ethical issues in research:

Institutional Review Boards

The importance of ethics in research cannot be understated. Following ethical guidelines will ensure your study’s validity and promote its contribution to scientific study. On a personal level, you will strengthen your research and increase your opportunities to gain funding.

To address the need for ethical considerations, most institutions have their own Institutional Review Board (IRB). An IRB secures the safety of human participants and prevents violation of human rights. It reviews the research aims and methodologies to ensure ethical practices are followed. If a research design does not follow the set ethical guidelines, then the  researcher will have to amend their study.

Applying for Ethical Approval

Applications for ethical approval will differ across institutions. Regardless, they focus on the benefits of your research and the risk to benefit ratio concerning participants. Therefore, you need to effectively address both in order to get ethical clearence.

Participants

It is vital that you make it clear that individuals are provided with sufficient information in order to make an informed decision on their participation. In addition, you need to demonstrate that the ethical issues of consent, risk of harm, and confidentiality are clearly defined.

Benefits of the Study

You need to prove to the panel that your work is essential and will yield results that contribute to the scientific community. For this, you should demonstrate the following:

i. The conduct of research guarantees the quality and integrity of results.

ii. The research will be properly distributed.

iii. The aims of the research are clear and the methodology is appropriate.

Integrity and transparency are vital in the research. Ethics committees expect you to share any actual or potential conflicts of interest that could affect your work. In addition, you have to be honest and transparent throughout the approval process and the research process.

The Dangers of Unethical Practices

There is a reason to  follow ethical guidelines. Without these guidelines, our research will suffer. Moreover, more importantly, people could suffer.

The following are just two examples of infamous cases of unethical research practices that demonstrate the importance of adhering to ethical standards:

• The Stanford Prison Experiment (1971) aimed to investigate the psychological effects of power using the relationship between prisoners and prison officers. Those assigned the role of “prison officers” embraced measures that exposed “prisoners” to psychological and physical harm. In this case, there was voluntary participation. However, there was disregard for  welfare of the participants.
• Recently, Chinese scientist He Jiankui announced his work on genetically edited babies . Over 100 Chinese scientists denounced this research, calling it “crazy” and “shocking and unacceptable.” This research shows a troubling attitude of “do first, debate later” and a disregard for the ethical concerns of manipulating the human body Wang Yuedan, a professor of immunology at Peking University, calls this “an ethics disaster for the world” and demands strict punishments for this type of ethics violation.

What are your experiences with research ethics? How have you developed an ethical approach to research design? Please share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.

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How to Write an Ethics Paper: Guide & Ethical Essay Examples

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An ethics essay is a type of academic writing that explores ethical issues and dilemmas. Students should evaluates them in terms of moral principles and values. The purpose of an ethics essay is to examine the moral implications of a particular issue, and provide a reasoned argument in support of an ethical perspective.

Writing an essay about ethics is a tough task for most students. The process involves creating an outline to guide your arguments about a topic and planning your ideas to convince the reader of your feelings about a difficult issue. If you still need assistance putting together your thoughts in composing a good paper, you have come to the right place. We have provided a series of steps and tips to show how you can achieve success in writing. This guide will tell you how to write an ethics paper using ethical essay examples to understand every step it takes to be proficient. In case you don’t have time for writing, get in touch with our professional essay writers for hire . Our experts work hard to supply students with excellent essays.

What Is an Ethics Essay?

An ethics essay uses moral theories to build arguments on an issue. You describe a controversial problem and examine it to determine how it affects individuals or society. Ethics papers analyze arguments on both sides of a possible dilemma, focusing on right and wrong. The analysis gained can be used to solve real-life cases. Before embarking on writing an ethical essay, keep in mind that most individuals follow moral principles. From a social context perspective, these rules define how a human behaves or acts towards another. Therefore, your theme essay on ethics needs to demonstrate how a person feels about these moral principles. More specifically, your task is to show how significant that issue is and discuss if you value or discredit it.

Purpose of an Essay on Ethics

The primary purpose of an ethics essay is to initiate an argument on a moral issue using reasoning and critical evidence. Instead of providing general information about a problem, you present solid arguments about how you view the moral concern and how it affects you or society. When writing an ethical paper, you demonstrate philosophical competence, using appropriate moral perspectives and principles.

Things to Write an Essay About Ethics On

Before you start to write ethics essays, consider a topic you can easily address. In most cases, an ethical issues essay analyzes right and wrong. This includes discussing ethics and morals and how they contribute to the right behaviors. You can also talk about work ethic, code of conduct, and how employees promote or disregard the need for change. However, you can explore other areas by asking yourself what ethics mean to you. Think about how a recent game you watched with friends started a controversial argument. Or maybe a newspaper that highlighted a story you felt was misunderstood or blown out of proportion. This way, you can come up with an excellent topic that resonates with your personal ethics and beliefs.

Ethics Paper Outline

Sometimes, you will be asked to submit an outline before writing an ethics paper. Creating an outline for an ethics paper is an essential step in creating a good essay. You can use it to arrange your points and supporting evidence before writing. It also helps organize your thoughts, enabling you to fill any gaps in your ideas. The outline for an essay should contain short and numbered sentences to cover the format and outline. Each section is structured to enable you to plan your work and include all sources in writing an ethics paper. An ethics essay outline is as follows:

• Background information
• Thesis statement
• Restate thesis statement
• Summarize key points
• Final thoughts on the topic

Using this outline will improve clarity and focus throughout your writing process.

Ethical Essay Structure

Ethics essays are similar to other essays based on their format, outline, and structure. An ethical essay should have a well-defined introduction, body, and conclusion section as its structure. When planning your ideas, make sure that the introduction and conclusion are around 20 percent of the paper, leaving the rest to the body. We will take a detailed look at what each part entails and give examples that are going to help you understand them better.  Refer to our essay structure examples to find a fitting way of organizing your writing.

Ethics Paper Introduction

An ethics essay introduction gives a synopsis of your main argument. One step on how to write an introduction for an ethics paper is telling about the topic and describing its background information. This paragraph should be brief and straight to the point. It informs readers what your position is on that issue. Start with an essay hook to generate interest from your audience. It can be a question you will address or a misunderstanding that leads up to your main argument. You can also add more perspectives to be discussed; this will inform readers on what to expect in the paper.

Ethics Essay Introduction Example

You can find many ethics essay introduction examples on the internet. In this guide, we have written an excellent extract to demonstrate how it should be structured. As you read, examine how it begins with a hook and then provides background information on an issue. 

Imagine living in a world where people only lie, and honesty is becoming a scarce commodity. Indeed, modern society is facing this reality as truth and deception can no longer be separated. Technology has facilitated a quick transmission of voluminous information, whereas it's hard separating facts from opinions.

In this example, the first sentence of the introduction makes a claim or uses a question to hook the reader.

Ethics Essay Thesis Statement

An ethics paper must contain a thesis statement in the first paragraph. Learning how to write a thesis statement for an ethics paper is necessary as readers often look at it to gauge whether the essay is worth their time.

When you deviate away from the thesis, your whole paper loses meaning. In ethics essays, your thesis statement is a roadmap in writing, stressing your position on the problem and giving reasons for taking that stance. It should focus on a specific element of the issue being discussed. When writing a thesis statement, ensure that you can easily make arguments for or against its stance.

Ethical Paper Thesis Example

Look at this example of an ethics paper thesis statement and examine how well it has been written to state a position and provide reasons for doing so:

The moral implications of dishonesty are far-reaching as they undermine trust, integrity, and other foundations of society, damaging personal and professional relationships. 

The above thesis statement example is clear and concise, indicating that this paper will highlight the effects of dishonesty in society. Moreover, it focuses on aspects of personal and professional relationships.

Ethics Essay Body

The body section is the heart of an ethics paper as it presents the author's main points. In an ethical essay, each body paragraph has several elements that should explain your main idea. These include:

• A topic sentence that is precise and reiterates your stance on the issue.
• Evidence supporting it.
• Examples that illustrate your argument.
• A thorough analysis showing how the evidence and examples relate to that issue.
• A transition sentence that connects one paragraph to another with the help of essay transitions .

When you write an ethics essay, adding relevant examples strengthens your main point and makes it easy for others to understand and comprehend your argument. 

Body Paragraph for Ethics Paper Example

A good body paragraph must have a well-defined topic sentence that makes a claim and includes evidence and examples to support it. Look at part of an example of ethics essay body paragraph below and see how its idea has been developed:

Honesty is an essential component of professional integrity. In many fields, trust and credibility are crucial for professionals to build relationships and success. For example, a doctor who is dishonest about a potential side effect of a medication is not only acting unethically but also putting the health and well-being of their patients at risk. Similarly, a dishonest businessman could achieve short-term benefits but will lose their client’s trust.

Ethics Essay Conclusion

A concluding paragraph shares the summary and overview of the author's main arguments. Many students need clarification on what should be included in the essay conclusion and how best to get a reader's attention. When writing an ethics paper conclusion, consider the following:

• Restate the thesis statement to emphasize your position.
• Summarize its main points and evidence.
• Final thoughts on the issue and any other considerations.

You can also reflect on the topic or acknowledge any possible challenges or questions that have not been answered. A closing statement should present a call to action on the problem based on your position.

Sample Ethics Paper Conclusion

The conclusion paragraph restates the thesis statement and summarizes the arguments presented in that paper. The sample conclusion for an ethical essay example below demonstrates how you should write a concluding statement.  

In conclusion, the implications of dishonesty and the importance of honesty in our lives cannot be overstated. Honesty builds solid relationships, effective communication, and better decision-making. This essay has explored how dishonesty impacts people and that we should value honesty. We hope this essay will help readers assess their behavior and work towards being more honest in their lives.

In the above extract, the writer gives final thoughts on the topic, urging readers to adopt honest behavior.

How to Write an Ethics Paper?

As you learn how to write an ethics essay, it is not advised to immediately choose a topic and begin writing. When you follow this method, you will get stuck or fail to present concrete ideas. A good writer understands the importance of planning. As a fact, you should organize your work and ensure it captures key elements that shed more light on your arguments. Hence, following the essay structure and creating an outline to guide your writing process is the best approach. In the following segment, we have highlighted step-by-step techniques on how to write a good ethics paper.

1. Pick a Topic

Before writing ethical papers, brainstorm to find ideal topics that can be easily debated. For starters, make a list, then select a title that presents a moral issue that may be explained and addressed from opposing sides. Make sure you choose one that interests you. Here are a few ideas to help you search for topics:

• Review current trends affecting people.
• Think about your personal experiences.
• Study different moral theories and principles.
• Examine classical moral dilemmas.

Once you find a suitable topic and are ready, start to write your ethics essay, conduct preliminary research, and ascertain that there are enough sources to support it.

2. Conduct In-Depth Research

Once you choose a topic for your essay, the next step is gathering sufficient information about it. Conducting in-depth research entails looking through scholarly journals to find credible material. Ensure you note down all sources you found helpful to assist you on how to write your ethics paper. Use the following steps to help you conduct your research:

• Clearly state and define a problem you want to discuss.
• This will guide your research process.
• Develop keywords that match the topic.
• Begin searching from a wide perspective. This will allow you to collect more information, then narrow it down by using the identified words above.

3. Develop an Ethics Essay Outline

An outline will ease up your writing process when developing an ethic essay. As you develop a paper on ethics, jot down factual ideas that will build your paragraphs for each section. Include the following steps in your process:

• Review the topic and information gathered to write a thesis statement.
• Identify the main arguments you want to discuss and include their evidence.
• Group them into sections, each presenting a new idea that supports the thesis.
• Write an outline.
• Review and refine it.

Examples can also be included to support your main arguments. The structure should be sequential, coherent, and with a good flow from beginning to end. When you follow all steps, you can create an engaging and organized outline that will help you write a good essay.

4. Write an Ethics Essay

Once you have selected a topic, conducted research, and outlined your main points, you can begin writing an essay . Ensure you adhere to the ethics paper format you have chosen. Start an ethics paper with an overview of your topic to capture the readers' attention. Build upon your paper by avoiding ambiguous arguments and using the outline to help you write your essay on ethics. Finish the introduction paragraph with a thesis statement that explains your main position.  Expand on your thesis statement in all essay paragraphs. Each paragraph should start with a topic sentence and provide evidence plus an example to solidify your argument, strengthen the main point, and let readers see the reasoning behind your stance. Finally, conclude the essay by restating your thesis statement and summarizing all key ideas. Your conclusion should engage the reader, posing questions or urging them to reflect on the issue and how it will impact them.

5. Proofread Your Ethics Essay

Proofreading your essay is the last step as you countercheck any grammatical or structural errors in your essay. When writing your ethic paper, typical mistakes you could encounter include the following:

• Spelling errors: e.g., there, they’re, their.
• Homophone words: such as new vs. knew.
• Inconsistencies: like mixing British and American words, e.g., color vs. color.
• Formatting issues: e.g., double spacing, different font types.

While proofreading your ethical issue essay, read it aloud to detect lexical errors or ambiguous phrases that distort its meaning. Verify your information and ensure it is relevant and up-to-date. You can ask your fellow student to read the essay and give feedback on its structure and quality.

Ethics Essay Examples

Writing an essay is challenging without the right steps. There are so many ethics paper examples on the internet, however, we have provided a list of free ethics essay examples below that are well-structured and have a solid argument to help you write your paper. Click on them and see how each writing step has been integrated. Ethics essay example 1

Ethics essay example 2

Ethics essay example 3

Ethics essay example 4

College ethics essay example 5

Ethics Essay Writing Tips

When writing papers on ethics, here are several tips to help you complete an excellent essay:

• Choose a narrow topic and avoid broad subjects, as it is easy to cover the topic in detail.
• Ensure you have background information. A good understanding of a topic can make it easy to apply all necessary moral theories and principles in writing your paper.
• State your position clearly. It is important to be sure about your stance as it will allow you to draft your arguments accordingly.
• When writing ethics essays, be mindful of your audience. Provide arguments that they can understand.
• Integrate solid examples into your essay. Morality can be hard to understand; therefore, using them will help a reader grasp these concepts.

Bottom Line on Writing an Ethics Paper

Creating this essay is a common exercise in academics that allows students to build critical skills. When you begin writing, state your stance on an issue and provide arguments to support your position. This guide gives information on how to write an ethics essay as well as examples of ethics papers. Remember to follow these points in your writing:

• Create an outline highlighting your main points.
• Write an effective introduction and provide background information on an issue.
• Include a thesis statement.
• Develop concrete arguments and their counterarguments, and use examples.
• Sum up all your key points in your conclusion and restate your thesis statement.

Contact our academic writing platform and have your challenge solved. Here, you can order essays and papers on any topic and enjoy top quality. 

Daniel Howard is an Essay Writing guru. He helps students create essays that will strike a chord with the readers.

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Key Ethical Considerations in Research You Should Apply Carefully

Primary ethical issues in research to consider before writing.

Ethical considerations for paper writing are foundations that shape your study plan and framework that preserve research participants’ rights, research feasibility, and scientific completeness. The notion of ethical considerations in research relates to writing a scientific paper that includes diverse data collection from other reputable sources. There’s also an institutional review board that assesses the aims of your ethical issues research paper and its writing design to get assured the acceptance of the ethical considerations and scientific integrity.

Ethical considerations deal with research paper validity. It means you should solve particular ethical issues in conducting research and find answers to defined questions. A paper conclusion should coincide with the mentioned issues in the beginning and meet ethical considerations. Don’t forget to choose a proper writing method to enclose the given considerations and write a well-considered paper. The chosen method should fit your destination and help you to promote findings.

Cover Ethical Considerations in Qualitative Research to Stand Out

To write a decent paper considering ethical considerations in qualitative research, you need to provide only appropriate facts connected to the examined subject. There’s no place for information violation – write only those facts that relate to the topic and the ethics considerations norms. Paper integrity and transparency are additional points that guarantee the credibility of your writing.

No matter what type of research paper you want to write – a qualitative or quantitative one – it’s important to preserve ethical considerations to save information relevance and usefulness. Ethical considerations have a deep concern for qualitative papers because they relate to the analysis of non-numerical information.

It’s essential to choose credible and reasonable data to write a worthy paper backed up with authentic sources by resonating with the given ethics considerations. See also Ethics in Clinical Research: Foundations and Current Issues . This method involves writing relevant data to emphasize paper purposes and perspectives and linking various theories with practical issues via properly chosen ethical research paper topics to write a comprehensive paper.

Worthy Ethics Research Paper Topics to Choose for Solid Outcomes

When writing a paper, it’s necessary to adhere to the defined ethical considerations to ensure high writing standards. This writing guideline monitors scientists and researchers’ activity to preserve the following aspects of ethics considerations:

• Data honesty by eliminating its fabrication.
• Stay unbiased for data analysis and review.
• Save consistency and clarity of your thoughts.
• Be open to new ideas and accept criticism.
• Be careful, analyze critically closely related papers.
• Finally, don’t violate copyrights and intellectual property.

Here’s a list of interesting ethical topics for research paper that will hook the tutors’ attention and will promote your investigation skills beneficially. These ethical considerations relate to diverse spheres of our life, i.e., business, social behavior, product consumption, medicine, etc. So, it’s important to determine what direction you’d like to examine and write a personal analysis:

• Ethical background of sexism in getting a new position.
• Mass media ethics: how to choose trusted sources?
• Preserving anonymity while visiting a doctor.
• Current reality: is it ethical to be child-free?
• Common prejudices based on religion.
• Ethical issues of online bullying.

So, when selecting decent ethics research paper topics, it’s vital to write a unique, approved, and authoritative paper preserving ethics considerations principles.

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Why Ethical Considerations Are Vital for Ethical Research Papers?

Have you ever thought about why ethical issues in research are important for scientists? Let’s look at its nature and main characteristics. First, ethical considerations are the set of principles that maintain paper aims to expand knowledge. They support common values of cooperation between research paper participants.

Ethical considerations confirm paper reliability, so the readers can rely on paper findings and outcomes. Second, writing norms of ethical consideration in research promote principles for collaborative work, guaranteeing accountability, respect, and trust.

Ethical considerations also come up with individual dignity, meaning you should consider other research paper participants’ viewpoints and allow them to express their opinions. According to the key ethics considerations, it’s important to treat them equitably. Ethical considerations for paper writing have nothing in common with paper misconducts like plagiarism, fabrication, and falsification.

How to Write an Ethical Research Paper to Outline Its Main Points

When writing an ethical research paper, it’s preferable to think out its structure carefully and divide a paper into several paragraphs. Using this writing approach, you’ll write a clear plan and coherent study without violating ethical considerations for scientific works.

Also, it would be nice to know each participant’s stance concerning ethics considerations and write a united position that will support the given statements. Therefore, participants’ consent is another element of ethical considerations for research. It’s obvious that the majority of research and scientific investigations involve several participants who should know all details about the research work.

All participants should make informed consent ahead of the research writing to prove the purpose, outcomes, and value of the paper. Concerning the ethics considerations, it’s crucial to ensure participants’ confidentiality and anonymity. Any information related to participants shouldn’t be available to anyone else. Alongside this, a researcher should write why they chose a particular individual to conduct a research paper.

Examine Ethics in Writing Research Papers With Professional Writers

Want to write a decent research paper that will meet the ethical considerations? Call our writers who will guarantee you a perfect paper covering the chosen topic. A PhD writing service follows ethics considerations like integrity and credibility. Our impeccable writers create well-considered ethical research papers that outline your personal position and convincing arguments for and against the raised issues.

Experienced writing geeks follow major norms of considerations ethics in writing research papers by saving your study flawlessness and transparency. We’ll write a 100% authentic paper including credible scientific sources to strengthen its main ideas. What’s more, your research will save the key features of typical scientific writing and will be highly assessed by the tutors. So, it’s an exceptional chance to polish your paper ethics considerations and promote your academic performance.

Ethical Issues in Research

Ethics are extensively the set of rules, composed (written) and unwritten, that governs our desires for our very own and others’ conduct. Research ethics are the set of ethics that govern how scientific and other researchers are performed at research foundations, for example, universities, and how it (the whole research) is disseminated.

What are Research Ethics? While issues are the points of discussions– without a doubt –as key pieces of research ethics, there are likewise more extensive issues about the standards of leading kind. These incorporate the importance of publishing discoveries straightforwardly, not plagiarizing others’ work, and not falsifying work.

The Importance of Research Ethics Research ethics are vital for various reasons.They advance the points of research, for example, expanding thus the information. They bolster the values required for collaborative work, for example, common respect and reasonableness. They imply that researchers can be considered accountable for their activities. Numerous researchers are upheld by public money, and it is all important on their behalf to guarantee that money was spent fittingly: as still in quest of the research itself. They guarantee that the public can trust the very inquiry about or their very inquiry about.  They bolster essential social and moral values, for example, the guideline of doing no damage to others.

Codes of Ethics Government offices who reserve or commission research often distribute codes of lead for researchers, or codes of ethics. For instance, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA)– both distribute ethical codes. Some ethical codes may have the force of law behind them, while others may just be advisable.

Know that regardless of whether you don’t do anything illegal, accomplishing something unethical may end your research career. Numerous or even most ethical codes cover the following territories:

Honesty and Integrity This implies that you have to report your exploration honestly, and this applies to your strategies (what you did), your data, your outcomes, and whether you have previously distributed any of it. You ought not make up any data simply with all mere assumption, including extrapolating irrationally from a portion of your outcomes, or do anything which could be understood as attempting to delude anybody. It is smarter to undersell than over-exaggerate your discoveries. And when working with others, you ought to dependably act truly.

Objectivity You should expect to maintain a strategic distance from any partiality or such an inclination in or to any part of your exploration, including design, data analysis, interpretation, and peer review. For instance, you ought to never suggest as a peer reviewer somebody you know, or who you have worked with, and you should attempt to guarantee that no gatherings are incidentally prohibited from your exploration.

Carefulness Take care in doing your exploration to evade imprudent oversights. You ought to likewise review your work deliberately and fundamentally to guarantee that your outcomes are solid. It is likewise critical to keep full records of your examination or research rather. In the event that you are requested to go about as a peer reviewer, you should set aside the opportunity to carry out the activity adequately and completely.

Openness You ought to dependably be set up to share your data and results, along with any new devices that you have created, when you distribute your discoveries, as this furthers information and advances science. You ought to likewise be available to give a feedback as to the new thoughts.

Respect for Intellectual Property You ought to never counterfeit, or duplicate other individuals’ work and attempt to pass it off as your own. You ought to dependably request consent before using other individuals’ instruments or strategies, unpublished data or results. Not doing as such is being a fake—is being not original. Obviously, you have to respect copyrights and patents, together with other forms of intellectual property, and dependably recognize commitments to your exploration. If all else fails, recognize to maintain a strategic distance from any danger of literary theft.

Secrecy You should respect anything that has been given in certainty to you as in a secret fashion. You ought to likewise keep up all such secrets as confided in like: is a vital ethic. Such should be your research.

Dependable Publication This implies, fundamentally, that you ought not to distribute anything that isn’t new, or that copies another person’s work.

Legitimate style You ought to dependably know about laws and controls that govern your work, and make certain that you conform to them.

Creature (animal) Care In the event that you are using creatures (animals) in your examination, you ought to dependably make sure that your tests are both fundamental and very much designed. You ought to likewise indicate respect for the creatures (animals) you are using, and ensure that they are appropriately thought about as well dealt about for the sake of your research.

Human Subjects Protection In the event that your exploration includes individuals, you should ensure that you lessen any conceivable mischief to them, and expand the advantages to such individuals. This implies, for instance, that you ought not to open individuals to a bigger number of tests than are entirely important to satisfy your examination (research) points. You ought to dependably respect human rights, including the privilege to protection and self-governance. You may need to take specific consideration for such gatherings that came up to be helping for your research.

The Role of the Ethics Committee Most universities have an ethics board. This will by and large incorporate research for ace and college degrees. Writing a Research Proposal is still vital, which likewise contains more insight about how to approach setting up a proposition or theme of the thesis. The ethics board caters as to consider whether what you are doing is suitable and proportionate  with all your exploration points or not.

In the event that an examination (research) proposition raises ethical issues, the board will request the specialist to take a measure at the issue, and consider whether they could do it any other way. For instance, in the event that you are proposing to do an examination on a specific illness, and you need to ask every one of your members whether they are hitched and have any kids, the board might need to know why this is needed. In such case, you should justify the board.

When you distribute your exploration or research, whether as a thesis or in at least one diary article form, you should give points of interest as bound still by the ethical endorsement. In the event that you are uncertain how to carry on in a specific circumstance, then you ought to dependably look for counsel before you act further. If you are a student, your chief ought to be cheerful to help and prompt you. As a research scholar otherwise, you ought to take the counsel of more senior partners around abiding either at your very own establishment or others. All things considered, it is to everybody’s greatest advantage to advance research ethics, and bolster the integrity of the research.

Ethical issues in research writing are to be carefully observed as to be followed by a research scholar. Ethical issues related to the research writing can only properly guide a research scholar from all the collapse due to the research. Ethical issues while research writing mainly consist of the plagiarism issue—that the research scholar should not at all commit any such plagiarism act at any cost. Ethical issues while research writing thus when followed, will lead certainly towards a wonderful honesty. Ethical issues while doing research writing insist upon the honesty on behalf of the research scholar. Ethical issues command all the research writing to be done wonderfully. Ethical issues in research as well as the research writing are so much interrelated—as if those both can never be separated from each other. Ethical issues and research writing—both go together inevitably. Ethical issues in research when are followed while doing the research writing, it is as towards a wonderful culmination rather. That there can’t be a proper research writing without following the Ethical issues in research writing: is the proper conclusion.

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Formidable Ethical Research Paper Topics For You!

Students in every course highly seek ethical research paper topics. Why may you ask? It is because every class, or rather, every career requires a particular set of ethical standards.

However, coming across some easy ethical research paper topics may not be that easy after all. Lucky for you, this splendid and reputable post will solve that in a moment.

Before that, how do you write an ethical research paper?

How To Write an Ethical Research Paper (Simply)

The following quick guidelines will give you an overview of how such a paper resembles and what you should do.

• Choose a captivating topic on ethics
• Formulate an outline
• Start writing with a hook introduction
• Proceed on with a descriptive body
• Finish with a momentous conclusion
• Proofread the final copy

Nothing more or less of that, and you will have your perfect ethical research paper. In this post, we will show some great moral issue research paper topics that you can choose from later.

Stay with me now as we explore these great ideas together. Remember to remain hawk-eyed lest you miss out on this once in a lifetime opportunity.

Prerequisite Steps to Choosing a Topic for an Ethics Research Paper

Before arriving at your topic, the following ideas will be useful:

• Have a look at the available materials
• Do critical thinking on the possible ideas
• Choose one out of the many

It is vital to ensure that your topic is original to avoid running into plagiarism claims. Furthermore, a brief problem will attract readers at first sight. The word length of the topic matters. Very great topics are a huge turn off to most readers; therefore, keep it short and to the point.

50 Ethical Issues Topics for a Research Paper

We shall tackle them according to subcategories so that you do not get confused along the way. Here we go then.

Ethical Hacking Research Paper Topics

• Goals of security in ethical hacking
• World’s most significant data breaches
• Viruses and malware to watch out for in 2023
• Assessing an organization’s vulnerability to cyber attacks
• How much time should an organization perform a backup every day?
• A case study of the qualitative risk assessment methods
• Disadvantages of black-box testing
• Does ethical hacking exist?
• How did ethical hacking come to be?
• Ethical hacking: Is it worth it?

Ethical Leadership Research Paper Topics

• Ethical leadership: The barriers to successful leadership
• The place of moral leadership in corrupt countries
• Rethinking ethical leadership in the 21st century
• Impact of Leadership courses on ethical leading
• How a teacher’s ethical behavior impacts students
• Is ethical leadership practiced in universities?
• Ethical leadership and employee relationships
• A case study of companies practicing ethical leadership and their performance
• Leadership lessons from Nelson Mandela: A case study
• A review of the relationship between moral and relational leadership

Ethical Egoism Research Paper Topics

• A comparison between ethical Egoism versus virtue ethics
• Ethical Egoism: A philosophical position
• Crime and Ethical Egoism
• Contrast between Ethical Egoism and Psychological Egoism
• Impact of ethical Egoism in business
• Thoughtful commentary on ethical Egoism
• Ethics and morality compared
• What is Ethical Egoism and What it Is Not
• A study of ethical egoism theories
• Contribution of a song to ethical egoism theory

Controversial Ethical Topics for Research Paper

• Is plastic surgery ethical?
• The impact of capital punishment on primary human rights
• Why genetic cloning is not to be pursued in the future
• Is abortion legal or illegal?
• Is human trafficking justified in any law?
• How safe is animal testing for humans?
• Is genetic cloning interfering with Mother Nature?
• Impact of ethnic adoption on a child’s development
• Are pills doing us more harm than good?
• Is a person justified to take his or her life?

Interesting Ethical Issues Topics for Research Paper

• What is the ethical impact of organ donation?
• The view of Catholicism on homosexuality
• Should we help strangers anywhere whenever we meet them?
• Should there be rich and poor people in the same country?
• Should newspapers and televisions show pictures of caskets?
• Should people leave their contact information at entrances?
• Who is responsible for the moral ethics of children: Parents or teachers?
• Should you report a close family friend involved in crime?
• Are politicians free to make campaigns in church?
• Is assisted suicide not the same as murder?

Ethics focuses on the shades of gray rather than black and white. Students should choose a research topic bearing in mind the implications carefully. The language used in an ethical research paper should also be prudent enough to prevent lawsuits.

Ethics Research Topics Are Here!

Ethical issues are all around us, and we cannot be ignorant of them. However, good ethical topics for a research paper require a keen eye on the student’s part. Haphazardness is not entertained in such an essay as it would amount to gross misconduct.

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180 Ethics Topics & Ethical Questions to Debate

Our code of ethics is derived from what we think is right or wrong. On top of that, we have to agree to the moral standards established by the society we live in. Conventional norms generally label theft, murder, or harassment as bad. However, there are many influences that impact our considerations and understanding of ethics.

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Ethics is a branch of philosophy that studies moral issues. This article outlines the three different types of ethics and presents a list of compelling ethics topics for essays and research papers, as well as ethical questions to debate.

You don’t know how to write about ethics or which ethical argument topic to choose for your paper? Maybe your assignment deadline is dreadfully looming over you? Our custom writing service is happy to help you craft a fantastic essay on ethics whenever the need arises.

🔝 Top 10 Ethical Topics

• 🧑🤝🧑Types of Ethics
• 🤔 Ethical Issues
• 🖥️ Computer Ethics
• 🧬 Bioethics
• 🚓👮 Criminal Justice
• ⚖️ Ethical Dilemmas

⭐ Top 10 Ethics Topics to Debate

😈 ethical questions to debate, 🔍 references.

• Religious beliefs vs. medical care
• Issues behind unpaid internships
• Toxic environment at the workplace
• The dilemma of reporting an accident
• Should one’s political leanings be private?
• The limits of doctor-patient confidentiality
• Is it ethical to pay children for good grades?
• Ethics at the workplace and discrimination
• Should social media be allowed at the workplace?
• Promotion of environmental responsibility in business

🧑🤝🧑 Types of Ethics

Modern philosophy splits ethics into three groups: metaethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics.

• The core question of metaethics is: “What is morality, and where does it come from?” It is also concerned with the emergence of human values, motivation, and reasoning.
• Normative ethics seeks to answer the question, “How should I act?” An example of a normative moral theory is Kant’s Categorical Imperative: Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should become a universal law . In other words: be kind.
• Applied ethics seeks to apply moral considerations into real-life controversial subjects. Its contents can vary greatly and touch bioethics as well as criminal justice. It studies specific actions and practices from the point of moral acceptance.

However, ethics does not end with these three types. Over the centuries, philosophers have proposed various ethical theories. Their four general categories are deontological, utilitarian, right, and virtue ethics.

• A deontologist is a person with a set of moral duties from which they will not adhere. When faced with an ethical conflict, they will always act according to their self-proclaimed obligations.
• For a utilitarian , a decision needs to yield the greatest benefit for the majority.
• If rights are the root of an ethical theory, these are the highest priority. A person’s rights can either be established in a society by law or bestowed from one individual upon another.
• Judging someone by virtue means considering a person’s character rather than their actions. Here, an individual’s reputation, motivation, and ethics play a crucial role.

Now that you know the basics, you have the perfect ground to start your ethics essay.

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🤔 Ethical Topics for an Essay

Ethical issues are situations in which an individual needs to evaluate which course of action is morally right. Essays on this topic shine a light on difficult questions. Therefore, students need to defend their position convincingly.

• Discuss what we should do about climate change . 
• What are the moral problems surrounding abortion ? 
• Can we still justify eating meat? 
• Investigate the use of plastic in the beauty industry. 
• Is it unethical to be extremely rich? 
• Should you buy Nestlé products despite the fact that the company privatizes water? 
• Is the unequal distribution of wealth unethical? 
• Discuss how workplace ethics should take sexism into account. 
• What can we do to combat racism ? 
• Why are LGBT + people discriminated against? 
• Should euthanasia be legal? 
• Can war be ethical? 
• Should schools punish students for attending the Fridays for Future protests? 
• Would drug use be unethical if it were legal? 
• Explain the moral problems that come with automating jobs . 

• Is it ethical to hire someone to do assignments for you? 
• How far should everyone’s right to privacy go? 
• Is using animals for scientific testing unethical? 
• How should governments deal with refugees ? 
• Discuss the carbon impact of having children. 
• Can modern societies still be held accountable for what their nation did in the past? 
• Analyze the benefits and disadvantages of universal income . 
• How much control should the state have on the press? 
• Should schools teach religion ? 
• What are ethical concerns regarding downloading media from the internet? 

🖥️ Computer Ethics Essay Topics

The advent of information technology has altered every aspect of our lives. Computer ethics applies traditional moral theories to everything surrounding computers and cyber security. The list below contains enthralling ethical topics concerned with the realm of computing.

• How much work should we leave entirely to computers? 
• Discuss the dangers of storing vulnerable data online. 
• Are computers secure enough to contain so much information about our lives? 
• Discuss if hacking can be morally justified. 
• Examine privacy-related concerns regarding computers . 
• Should all software be free? 
• How can you legitimize the possession of a computer algorithm patent? 
• What can be done to prevent cyberbullying ? 
• Investigate the moral effects anonymity has on internet users. 
• Whose laws apply if you wish to protect your rights online? 
• Discuss how the necessity to own a computer impacts poorer nations and people. 
• Which ethical problems can people face due to the internet’s possibilities? 
• When is sabotaging another person’s computer justified? 
• Analyze the social responsibility that comes with developing new software. 
• Are computer crimes less harmful than crimes against humans? 
• Who owns information that is distributed online? 
• What is more important: easy accessibility or privacy? 
• Investigate the moral problems associated with AI . 
• If a computer makes a critical mistake, whose fault is it? 
• Discuss the importance of netiquette. 
• How should tech companies deal with ethical problems? 
• Can AI algorithms ensure ethical behavior? 
• Why do tech companies need ethics boards? 
• Which ethical conflicts appear when using drones ? 
• Investigate racial bias in facial recognition systems. 

🏅 Sports Ethics Topics for a Paper

Morality in sports is based on integrity, respect, responsibility, and fairness. Often, this puts athletes into a dilemma: do I want to be ethical, or do I want to win? Answering these questions is not always easy. The following list compiles sports topics for a research paper on ethics.

• What are moral complications when using enhancement drugs? 
• Is gamesmanship unethical? 
• How important is ethics in sports? 
• Discuss the moral responsibilities of athletes . 
• What are ethical reasons to pay college athletes ? 
• Investigate the ethical implications of kneeling for the national anthem . 
• Can college sports and the principles of higher education go hand in hand? 
• Investigate the sexist bias in sports. 
• Was it selfish when the American female soccer team went to court to demand equal pay? 

• What moral obligations do universities have towards their athletes? 
• When can you justify cheating ? 
• Concerning the environment, how can professional sports events be ethical? 
• Which ethical issues do healthcare workers have concerning sportspeople? 
• Which moral duties do teams’ coaches have? 
• Are the extremely high salaries of sports professionals justified? 
• In 2003, the Olympics abolished the wild card system. Was that fair? 
• Because of the Paralympics, disabled athletes cannot take part in the real Olympics. Is that discriminatory? 
• Discuss how money influences the fairness of a sport. 
• Debate if and how children are exploited to become elite athletes. 
• Which moral duties should a good sport follow? 
• How much should parents get involved in their child’s physical education ? 
• Investigate if everyday codes of ethics should apply to sports. 
• Discuss the ethical implications of motorsports. 
• Who is responsible if a player gets injured? 
• Are referees always fair? 

🧬 Bioethics Topics for an Essay

Bioethics comes into play when we talk about life and health. It expands from genetics to neurology and even plastic surgery. In the name of the common good, researchers often find themselves in conflicting positions. This makes bioethics an especially exciting topic to write about.

• Discuss the moral conflicts of genetic engineering . 
• What are the ethical responsibilities associated with using CRISPR ? 
• Investigate the problems of stem cell research . 
• When can humans be used for drug testing ? 
• Should vaccinations be mandatory for everyone? 
• Investigate the ethics that apply to a medical worker. 
• Discuss the harmful effects of plastic surgery . 
• Should a person who is brain dead be kept alive? 
• Is it just that medical care is linked to an individual’s ability to pay? 
• Should everyone be an organ donor by default? 
• What is more important: a person’s right to privacy or the information of at-risk relatives? 
• Is prenatal invasive testing ethical? 
• Should neuroenhancement drugs be legal? 
• Discuss ethical conflicts concerning Disclosure and Barring Service. 
• Is it ethical to improve memory functions with brain stimulation ? 
• Analyze the ethical issues concerning precision medicine. 
• What are the problems of surrogacy ? 
• Should medical personnel collect healthy tissues of a deceased person without their consent? 

• What should be done with the child of a brain-dead pregnant woman? 
• How important is a subject’s anonymity during research? 
• Discuss the ethics of shared decision-making . 
• How much responsibility do mentally challenged people carry for their actions? 
• Was Sweden right not to impose strict lockdown rules during the COVID-19 pandemic? 
• To what extent are businesses responsible for their employees’ health? 
• Should universal healthcare be free? 

🚓👮 Criminal Justice Ethics Topics to Write About

Law enforcers should always act ethically. Unfortunately, it is not always the case. Police officers and attorneys often end up in morally ambiguous situations. In many cases, they don’t do what the public deems the right thing. Below are the examples of criminal justice ethics topics.

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• When is it legitimate for a police officer to use violence? 
• How can an officer remain impartial? 
• Should law enforcement visibly wear guns in public? 
• How much force is too much? 
• Investigate possible ethical implications associated with true crime podcasts. 
• Should prostitution be legal in the US? 
• How ethical is interrogation ? 
• Can torture be justified? 
• Discuss the ethical consequences of lying when working in criminal justice . 
• Is working undercover deception? 
• Debate whether it is an American citizen’s moral duty to participate in jury duty. 
• Should the police be allowed to access everyone’s data? 
• Discuss the moral complications of “innocent until proven guilty.” 
• Should convicted pedophiles be allowed to see their children? 
• Can teaching ethics at schools prevent crime? 
• Analyze ethical problems of the Stanford Prison Experiment . 
• Should NATO have become involved in America’s Afghan war ? 
• What are the ethical implications of shooter drills at school? 
• Was Edward Snowden morally in the wrong? 
• How should we deal with child soldiers ? 
• Discuss if the prosecution of Julian Assange is justified. 
• Examine the ethical problems of private prisons . 
• What moral obligations should someone consider when granting prisoners the right to work? 
• When is capital punishment justified? 
• Is it ethical to incarcerate juvenile offenders ? 

⚖️ Ethical Dilemma Topics to Write About

An ethical issue becomes a dilemma when different moral standards clash with each other. In this situation, it is impossible to find a path to an ethically permissible solution that is unambiguous. The following sample topics are a solid base to start a discussion on morals.

• Should parents watch over what their children do on the internet? 
• Would you report an accident you caused if there are no witnesses? 
• What should a doctor do if a patient refuses life-saving treatment for religious reasons? 
• Should you turn down a client if their political views do not match yours? 
• Would you promote something you are not convinced of to get money? 
• Should you lie to land a job that gets you out of poverty? 

• Your partner cheated on you. Now, you get the chance to take your revenge with someone you really like. Would you do it? 
• Should students use automated writing tools like free thesis generators , summarizers, and paraphrasers? 
• Your teacher is continuously mocking your classmate. You are a teacher’s pet. Would you speak up? 
• Your son likes to wear dresses. One day, he asks if he can wear one to school. Will you let him? 
• You are very religious. Your daughter wants to get married to another woman and invites you to her wedding. What will you do? 
• Prenatal testing showed that your unborn child has a disability. Would you terminate pregnancy? 
• You are in a long-term relationship. Suddenly, your partner gets a job offer in another part of the world. What would you do? 
• You have a terminal illness . This makes you a financial burden to your relatives. Are you obliged towards them to quit your treatment? 
• You have a red and a blue candy bar. Blue is your favorite, but you also know that it’s your friend’s favorite. Will you give it to them? 
• A friend asked you for a loan. Since then, they have not given you anything back. They are still not wholly stable financially. Will you ask them to return the money? 
• Your grandma passed away and bequeathed her favorite mink coat to you. You are a vegan. What do you do? 
• A few years ago, you borrowed a gun from a friend. Now, they ask for it back, but their mental state seems to be rapidly deteriorating. This makes you scared they are going to shoot someone, or themselves. What do you do? 
• You find out that your friend cheats on their spouse. You are close friends with their family. Will you tell on them? 
• For your birthday, your friend gave you a sweater they’ve made themselves. You think it’s ugly. Do you tell them? 
• You are a vegan . Should you buy vegan products which are highly problematic to produce? 
• You are in a restaurant. Your order arrives too late. The waitress looks stressed. Will you make her take it back? 
• You went to the store and bought a new, expensive item. The clerk gives you too much change. Do you give it back? 
• You are walking with a friend and find $50 on the floor. Would you share it with them? 
• Your child firmly believes in Santa Claus. One Christmas , they start suspecting that he is not real. What do you do? 
• Is having pets ethical?
• Can eating meat be justified?
• Should we defund the police?
• Should atomic bombs be banned?
• Can discrimination be justified?
• Is it ethical to ask someone’s age?
• Should children get paid for chores?
• Is it unprofessional to send voice messages?
• Should children be allowed to vote?
• Should influencers promote products they don’t use?
• Should there be any limitations to doctor and patient confidentiality?
• Should physician-assisted suicide be allowed?
• Can teenagers get plastic surgery?
• What to do when you find out that your relative has committed an offense?
• What to do when you see your friend cheating on the exam?
• Should sportsmen be paid more than teachers?
• Should gender quotas be used during parliamentary elections?
• Do companies have the right to collect information about their customers?
• Can politicians appeal to religious issues during electoral campaigns?
• Should fake news be censored in a democratic society?

We hope that in this list you’ve found the ethics topic that fits you the best. Good luck with your assignment!

Further reading:

• 430 Philosophy Topics & Questions for Your Essay
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• v.15(2); 2014 Dec

The Tuskegee Experiment: An Introduction in Ethics for Pre-Healthcare Professional Students †

Associated data.

Appendix 1: List of learning objectives and sample essay prompts

Over the past years, professional students have had extensive exposure to clinical cases during basic science classes. With this in mind, we have taken this clinical case exposure moment to be an opportune time to introduce the ethics of working with patients during biomedical research. Our goal is to present a straightforward assignment that allows for active student research into the facts of the Tuskegee Experiment of the 1900s. The assignment provides the necessary background to allow for a student-centered discussion on the ethical issues of the events and ramifications of what happened. Thus, in educating a class on the event’s happenings, one concomitantly creates a platform for meaningful discussion on the principles and ethics of patient care. We have found that an ethics-infused event such as the Tuskegee Experiment is an excellent way to introduce students to these topics.

INTRODUCTION

Students in courses such as microbiology for pre-nursing and pre-pharmacy students often struggle to find connections between their career path and the basic science they are learning. Over the past years, professional students have had extensive exposure to clinical cases during basic science classes ( 2 ). With this in mind, it is never too early to introduce students to a diversity of clinical cases linked to a student’s basic science curriculum. Additionally, we have found this diverse case exposure to be an effective and opportune time to introduce the ethics of working with patients, especially in connection with medical research. In particular, an event as eye-opening as the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment of the 1900s is an excellent way to introduce students to these topics.

We have chosen to introduce the roles of healthcare professionals in the ethical treatment of patients by using the striking example of the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment. While many individuals in the U.S. know of this dark chapter in medical science, many younger students are not well-informed or knowledgeable on the topic. Clarification of the events is the main goal in this assignment, which concomitantly creates a platform for meaningful discussion on the ethics of patient care.

Our goal is to present a straightforward assignment that allows for active student research into the facts of the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment. This assignment then provides the necessary background to allow for a student-centered discussion on the ethical issues of the events and the ramifications of what happened during these events.

Assignment setup

This assignment has often been coupled with an introduction to Koch’s postulates, as the combination enables the class to begin discerning problems that could arise in medical research. Often presented as a first “clinical correlate” to parallel topics covered in lecture, this assignment allows us to touch upon ethical issues concerning patients throughout the class. As students may encounter extreme information while researching the subject matter, it is important that the instructor facilitate an honest, unbiased, and facts-driven discussion of the topics.

To introduce the assignment and connect it to the underlying microbiology, students are provided with a take-home essay prompt, which also includes general background on syphilis. Within the instructions, students are asked to research and analyze available information regarding historic, procedural, and/or anecdotal details, surrounding the Tuskegee Experiment. It is important to note that for some students, this may be a first exposure to subject matter research. Along with the written instructions, it is instrumental to discuss how to conduct a search and what sources can be deemed “good” references. Providing brief examples of keywords and search engines is also useful. As an introduction to distinguishing quality references, for example, one can describe how general sources like Wikipedia may offer a broad account on a subject. Students are encouraged to examine the bibliographies, reference lists, and citations of such reviews to determine a site’s credibility; these lists can also be used as starting points for further investigation and analysis. Students are prompted to collect consistent facts found in their research and consolidate the information to create a summarized, fact-driven story.

Specifically, to guide the student conceptually, the objectives (listed in Appendix 1 ) of the assignment are listed at the beginning of the prompt—namely, to:

• Learn about the cause of syphilis
• Understand the symptoms of the different stages of syphilis
• Demonstrate background knowledge and describe the ramifications of the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment
• Know how ethics are involved with all scientific experiments
• Be able to apply the principles of informed consent and protection of patients in a medical setting

After acquiring a substantial, well-rounded, consistent set of information, the student will summarize the historic event by writing a one-page essay about the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment.

Outside class time preparation

Class time is used to provide general instructions. Time outside of class is used to conduct research/literature searches on the topic and write the essay after students have completed their own research and analysis. Several examples of potential essay prompts are listed in Appendix 1 . The assignment is to be turned-in on the day of discussion. We normally allow one week to prepare the appropriate one-page essay.

This topic affords the class the chance to discuss the ethical treatment of patients in biomedical testing and experimentation. Due to the abundance of commentaries on the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, it is critical that the instructor facilitate discussion with students. We present topics for both large and small groups, but, depending on class time restraints, they could easily be mixed or even combined with responder polling to enhance class participation. During these discussions, it is important to bring up which sources students considered valid to reference for information on such an important and often controversial topic.

Whole-class discussion. A consistent result of the assignment is an unsolicited discussion on the truths, concepts, or misconceptions regarding the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment. Students will often begin commenting on what new information was learned, and more poignantly, what details were clarified and newly understood. To best facilitate whole-class discussion the instructor should lead questions and answers, being sure to engage students and also lead them toward the correct and factual answers.

Small-group discussion. In groups of four or five, students share what previous thoughts they had of the event, and what was learned. Facilitated dialogue lends for a guided discussion on ethics, and personal insights gathered from questions addressing scientific research, the goals of clinical trials, and the ethical treatment of patients/subjects/candidates are shared and explored. We have found that issues of ethics are often easier to discuss in small groups with facilitated discussion and input from all participants.

Essays are reviewed for content and to see whether the general historic facts are addressed. To assess understanding of the subject matter, student participation and discussion demonstrates the extent of understanding of the event and ethical principles. Often, students will provide their own personal views and sentiments on the event and the ethics displayed. To assess application of ethics to biomedical testing, case scenarios beyond the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment can be used in examinations.

While the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment is a very critical part of the development of ethics and practices of modern biomedical research and care, it is not common knowledge. A study published found that graduate students at Tulane University often do not have much background on the Tuskegee Experiment or its ethical ramifications ( 1 ). Consequently, it is important to introduce and allow students to explore these topics early in their path toward careers in the health professions.

In our experience with this assignment, we have found that students are often struck by the currently unimaginable circumstances of the entire Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment. Responses are varied and often demonstrate passionate concern. This assignment was presented at Los Angeles City College, which has a very diverse student population. Consequently, questions of how race and socioeconomic standing affected the study participants are also common. The facilitator should be prepared to explain how current Institutional Review Boards focus on support of patients and their rights. Also, questions of how to report abuses of patient rights are brought up and we have often had to explain whistle blower laws and the importance of reporting to superiors, which is necessary in any healthcare setting. Overall, this assignment has generated a significant level of discussion and engagement of students and shows the importance of thinking of the rights of patients in all biomedical experimentation and testing.

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS

Acknowledgments.

The authors would like to thank the students of Los Angeles City College who worked with us to develop this and other programs to enhance teaching of microbiology for pre-health professional students. The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

† Supplemental materials available at http://jmbe.asm.org