Abstract
Empirical research in bioethics has developed rapidly over the past decade, but has largely eschewed the use of technology-driven methodologies. We propose “design bioethics” as an area of conjoined theoretical and methodological innovation in the field, working across bioethics, health sciences and human-centred technological design. We demonstrate the potential of digital tools, particularly purpose-built digital games, to align with theoretical frameworks in bioethics for empirical research, integrating context, narrative and embodiment in moral decision-making. Purpose-built digital tools can engender situated engagement with bioethical questions; can achieve such engagement at scale; and can access groups traditionally under-represented in bioethics research and theory. If developed and used with appropriate rigor, tools motivated by “design bioethics” could offer unique insights into new and familiar normative and empirical issues in the field.
Highlights
There is growing recognition that an understanding of social context and public attitudes is valuable in bioethics (Dawson 2013; Ives 2008; Kon 2009)
Our goal is to illustrate the opportunity for design bioethics—the chance to leverage technological advances at the interface of engineering, design and computing to build theoretically relevant and reliable tools for empirical bioethics research
We propose that digital tools such as games and VR scenarios can provide a more proximate “real world” solution, since they allow for judgments and choices to be embedded in context and social interactions (Gee 2013; Sicart 2013)
Summary
There is growing recognition that an understanding of social context and public attitudes is valuable in bioethics (Dawson 2013; Ives 2008; Kon 2009). This value, is dependent on how this understanding is achieved. Researchers do not make explicit how theoretical and/or epistemological commitments shape methodological choices (Singh 2016)—for example, if one is committed to a view of personal agency as an experience derived through processes of human interaction, one is likely to choose research and analytic approaches that reflect this. For instance, film interactions and conduct a discourse analysis to generate a grounded account of personal agency and threats thereto
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