Gold, Nicolas E;
Lawson, Ian;
Oxtoby, Neil P;
(2023)
Afterlife: the post-research affect and effect of software.
Research Ethics
, 19
(4)
pp. 433-448.
10.1177/17470161231178450.
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Abstract
Software plays an important role in contemporary research. Aside from its use for administering traditional instruments like surveys and in data analysis, the widespread use of mobile and web apps for social, medical and lifestyle engagement has led to software becoming a research intervention in its own right. For example, it is not unusual to find apps being studied for their utility as interventions in health and social life. Since the software may persist in use beyond the life of an investigation, this raises questions as to the extent of ethical duties for researchers involved in its production and/or study towards the participants involved. Key factors identified include the extent of affect created by the software, the effect it has on a participant’s life, the length of investigation, cost of maintenance and participant agency. In this article we discuss the issues raised in such situations, considering them in the context of post-research duties of care and suggesting strategies to balance the burden on researchers with the need for ongoing participant support.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Afterlife: the post-research affect and effect of software |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1177/17470161231178450 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1177/17470161231178450 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © The Author(s) 2023. Creative Commons License (CC BY 4.0) This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). |
| Keywords: | Care After Research, software ethics, open-source, participant impact, software maintenance |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Computer Science |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10171798 |
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