Universität zu Köln

Mertz, Marcel, Inthorn, Julia, Renz, Guenter, Rothenberger, Lillian Geza, Salloch, Sabine, Schildmann, Jan ORCID: 0000-0002-5755-7630, Wohlke, Sabine and Schicktanz, Silke ORCID: 0000-0001-9627-752X (2014). Research across the disciplines: a road map for quality criteria in empirical ethics research. BMC Med. Ethics, 15. LONDON: BMC. ISSN 1472-6939

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Abstract

Background: Research in the field of Empirical Ethics (EE) uses a broad variety of empirical methodologies, such as surveys, interviews and observation, developed in disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, and psychology. Whereas these empirical disciplines see themselves as purely descriptive, EE also aims at normative reflection. Currently there is literature about the quality of empirical research in ethics, but little or no reflection on specific methodological aspects that must be considered when conducting interdisciplinary empirical ethics. Furthermore, poor methodology in an EE study results in misleading ethical analyses, evaluations or recommendations. This not only deprives the study of scientific and social value, but also risks ethical misjudgement. Discussion: While empirical and normative-ethical research projects have quality criteria in their own right, we focus on the specific quality criteria for EE research. We develop a tentative list of quality criteria - a road map - tailored to interdisciplinary research in EE, to guide assessments of research quality. These quality criteria fall into the categories of primary research question, theoretical framework and methods, relevance, interdisciplinary research practice and research ethics and scientific ethos. Summary: EE research is an important and innovative development in bioethics. However, a lack of standards has led to concerns about and even rejection of EE by various scholars. Our suggested orientation list of criteria, presented in the form of reflective questions, cannot be considered definitive, but serves as a tool to provoke systematic reflection during the planning and composition of an EE research study. These criteria need to be tested in different EE research settings and further refined.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Mertz, Marcel UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Inthorn, Julia UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Renz, Guenter UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Rothenberger, Lillian Geza UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Salloch, Sabine UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Schildmann, Jan UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0002-5755-7630 UNSPECIFIED Wohlke, Sabine UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Schicktanz, Silke UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0001-9627-752X UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-444654
DOI:	10.1186/1472-6939-15-17
Journal or Publication Title:	BMC Med. Ethics
Volume:	15
Date:	2014
Publisher:	BMC
Place of Publication:	LONDON
ISSN:	1472-6939
Language:	English
Faculty:	Unspecified
Divisions:	Unspecified
Subjects:	no entry
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language MEDICAL-ETHICS; ORGAN DONATION; BIOETHICS; DONOR; CONTRIBUTE; REVIEWS Multiple languages Ethics; Medical Ethics; Social Sciences, Biomedical Multiple languages
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/44465