Collaborative Research: Foundational Community-Based Research for Ethics in Mathematics

数学家的职业道德标准是一个相对较新的问题，也是此时此刻的一个关键问题。事实证明，在当今的科技社会中，大数据和算法的使用会使不平等永久化。算法的设计和大数据的使用往往涉及数学家的工作。许多数学专业协会的职业道德准则倾向于关注学术问题，而不是明确地解决这些新的问题和背景。此外，在数学领域内有一种感觉，即数学是抽象的，因此不受伦理因素的影响。这项为期一年的伦理和负责任研究孵化基金旨在收集信息，了解数学家认为哪些伦理准则与数学相关，以及当前的职业规范和准则中缺少哪些伦理元素。该项目利用与数学相邻的领域和专业协会的伦理准则，如计算机械协会(ACM)和美国统计协会(ASA)。这些协会最近更新了它们的代码，以更好地反映大数据和算法设计等领域的当代伦理问题。该项目使用调查和焦点小组方法，询问美国数学协会(MAA)和美国数学协会(AMS)这两个主要学术数学专业协会的现行代码中，哪些元素与他们的工作最相关。调查和重点小组的工作还将评估数学家在多大程度上认为来自与数学相邻的专业协会的道德准则与他们的工作相关，以及可能需要哪些针对数学领域的额外准则。这项研究的工作为更广泛的影响奠定了基础，因为这项基础性工作将指导数学领域内的讨论，数学专业组织对道德准则的修订，以及大学和行业背景下数学家部分更强的道德行为。这笔赠款之后是一个为期三年的伦理和负责任的研究提案，旨在将孵化项目的数据收集和白皮书工作扩展到为数学家和他们的专业团体构建知情的伦理实践指南和教育材料。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Professional ethics standards for mathematicians is both a relatively novel issue and a critical one at this moment in time. The use of big data and algorithms in today's technological society has been shown to perpetuate inequalities. The design of algorithms and use of big data often involve the work of mathematicians. Professional codes of ethics for many mathematical professional societies tend to focus on academic issues and do not explicitly address these newer issues and contexts. Moreover, there is a sense within the field of mathematics that mathematics is abstract and as such free from ethical considerations. This one-year Ethical and Responsible Research incubation grant aims to gather information on what ethical guidelines mathematicians believe are relevant to mathematics and which elements of ethics are missing from current professional codes and guidelines.The project makes use of ethics codes from mathematics-adjacent fields and professional societies such as the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the American Statistical Association (ASA). These societies have recently updated their codes to better reflect contemporary issues of ethics in areas such as big data and algorithm design. Using survey and focus group methods, the project interrogates which elements from the current codes of the two major academic mathematics professional societies, the Mathematics Association of America (MAA) and the American Mathematical Society (AMS) mathematicians see as most relevant to their work. The survey and focus group work will also evaluate the extent to which mathematicians feel that the ethical guidelines from the mathematics-adjacent professional societies are relevant to their work and what additional guidelines might be necessary that are specific to the field of mathematics. The work of this study lays the groundwork for broader impacts as this foundational work will guide discussions within the field of mathematics, revisions to codes of ethics by mathematics professional organizations, and stronger ethical behavior on the part of mathematicians in university and industry contexts. This grant is intended to be followed by a three-year Ethical and Responsible Research proposal to extend the data collection and white paper work of the incubation project into the construction of informed ethical practice guidelines and educational materials for mathematicians and their professional societies.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.