Abstract
Research on ethical and moral issues in information systems is increasingly recognized as legitimate and important. It raises a number of problems, however, that are often difficult for IS scholars to recognize and address. This paper therefore aims to provide guidance for IS scholars interested in undertaking or evaluating ethics-related research. The guidance is given in the form of questions that should be considered in order to avoid unnecessary mistakes and duplication of efforts. The questions presented cover the concept of ethics, the level of normative engagement, the relationship to prior work within IS and adjacent disciplines, the consistency of different aspects of ethics and the justification of normative conclusions. For each question the central issues under debate are elaborated and then the relevance of the question for IS research is discussed. The set of questions provides a guiding framework that will contribute to the improvement of the quality of ethics-related research in IS.
Recommended Citation
Stahl, Bernd Carsten, "Researching Ethics and Morality in Information Systems: Some Guiding Questions" (2008). ICIS 2008 Proceedings. 175.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2008/175