New Frameworks for Ethical Research Amidst Emerging Digital Technologies, Algorithms, and Privacy Norms

各个领域的研究人员——包括生物医学、行为科学、认知科学、教育科学、计算机科学、信息科学和社会科学——使用数字技术招募人类参与者，开发干预措施，收集和分析数据，并传播研究结果。这些技术包括手机、可穿戴计算设备、身体传感器、跟踪应用程序和社交网络平台。人工智能和其他算法嵌入在这些技术中。算法和模型随着人们提供的个人信息而发展，为日常活动带来个性化体验，如购物、阅读新闻文章和看电影。人们对个人信息隐私的看法也在不断发展。这些技术的发展使研究人员能够接触到更多的研究参与者，并扩大了研究复杂人类行为的机会。然而，使用这些数字技术进行研究需要新的研究伦理核心概念，如知情同意、自主和保密。该项目将研究新的伦理框架，以保护人类研究参与者，以应对数字时代，并为科学界和公众开发资源。结果将通过信息视频、网络研讨会、信息小册子和培训平台指南广泛传播给教职员工、研究人员、学生和社区。内容将通过美国心理协会的网站、播客、博客和社交媒体提供。该项目将支持工作组活动和公开会议，以促进计算机伦理研究，解决：(1)当前的伦理、法律/监管或社会问题，无论是在程度上还是在种类上，如何解决（或不解决）数字技术在人类研究中的使用？(2)随着数字技术的普遍使用，人们对共享个人信息的看法发生了怎样的变化，这将如何影响数字技术在人类研究中的应用？(3)包括人工智能在内的算法在日常数字技术中的普遍使用如何影响人类研究的伦理维度？(4)在与具有各种技术素养特征和隐私感知的人类参与者进行研究时，哪些伦理框架可以解决数字技术的新兴用途？该项目预计将产生以下成果：(1)概述在研究中使用电子和移动技术相关的伦理、法律和社会问题的白皮书；(2)为学生和研究人员提供一套使用此类技术进行研究的培训指南，并向监管机构、专业协会和大学分发；(3)培训教学工具的设计要求；(4)为评估、改进和支持培训议程的后续提案制定研究计划。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Researchers across fields--including biomedical, behavioral, cognitive, educational, computer, information, and social sciences--use digital technologies recruit human participants, develop interventions, collect and analyze data, and disseminate findings. The technologies include mobile phones, wearable computing, body sensors, tracking apps, and social networking platforms. Artificial intelligence and other algorithms are embedded in the technologies. Algorithms and models grow, along with personal information that people provide, bringing personalized experiences to daily activities, such as shopping, reading news articles, and watching movies. People’s perceptions about the privacy of their personal information likewise evolve. The growth of such technologies gives researchers access to more research participants and expanded opportunities to study complex human behaviors unobtrusively, in real-time. However, using these digital technologies to conduct research requires new core concepts of research ethics, such as informed consent, autonomy, and confidentiality. This project will investigate new ethical frameworks for protecting human research participants in response to the digital age and develop resources for the scientific community and the public. Outcomes will be broadly disseminated to faculty researchers, research staff, students and the community through informational videos, webinars, informational brochures, and guidelines for training platforms. Content will be served through the American Psychological Association’s website, podcasts, blogs, and social media. The project will support working group activities and a public conference for stimulating computing ethics research addressing: (1) How do current ethical, legal/regulatory, or social issues, either in degree or kind, address (or not address) the use of digital technologies in human research? (2) How have people’s perceptions on sharing personal information changed with the ubiquitous use of digital technologies, and how will this affect the use of digital technology in human research? (3) How has the ubiquitous use of algorithms, including AI, in everyday digital technologies, impacted ethical dimensions of human research? (4) What ethical frameworks can address emerging uses of digital technologies when conducting research with human participants with a variety of technology literacy characteristics and privacy perceptions? The project is expected to generate the following outcomes: (1) white papers outlining ethical, legal, and social issues related to the use of electronic and mobile technologies in research; (2) a set of training guidelines for students and researchers on the conduct of research using such technologies, to be disseminated to regulatory organizations, professional societies and universities; (3) design requirements of training and educational tools; and (4) research plan for a follow-up proposal to evaluate, improve, and support the training agenda.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.