Abstract
BackgroundThis paper reports the process and outcome of a consensus finding project, which began with a meeting at the Brocher Foundation in May 2015. The project sought to generate and reach consensus on standards of practice for Empirical Bioethics research. The project involved 16 academics from 5 different European Countries, with a range of disciplinary backgrounds.MethodsThe consensus process used a modified Delphi approach.ResultsConsensus was reached on 15 standards of practice, organised into 6 domains of research practice (Aims, Questions, Integration, Conduct of Empirical Work, Conduct of Normative Work; Training & Expertise).ConclusionsThrough articulating these standards we outline a position that encourages responses, and through those responses we will be able to identify points of agreement and contestation that will drive the conversation forward. In that vein, we would encourage researchers, funders and journals to engage with what we have proposed, and respond to us, so that our community of practice of empirical bioethics research can develop and evolve further.
Highlights
This paper reports the process and outcome of a consensus finding project, which began with a meeting at the Brocher Foundation in May 2015
Empirical bioethics (EB) is a broad term that has been used to capture a range of different research activities [1]
This paper focusses on a particular approach that has been taken in predominantly European literature that frames empirical bioethics as an interdisciplinary activity in which empirical social scientific analysis is integrated with ethical analysis in order to draw normative conclusions
Summary
How should methodological approaches and methods be documented in papers submitted for academic publication?. 8) Empirical bioethics research should, if and where necessary, develop and amend empirical methods to facilitate collection of the data required to meet the aims of the research; but deviation from accepted disciplinary standards and practices ought to be acknowledged and justified (94% consensus). 9) Empirical bioethics research should reflect on and justify the appropriateness and fit of the chosen empirical methods in relation to (a) the normative aims (b) the stated approach to integration (100% consensus) This standard reflects and attends to concerns raised, for example by Hurst [3], that some EB work uses methods and approaches from discrete disciplines but does not apply the standards of rigour that those disciplines require. Moral ontology is the study of the nature and substance of morality (e.g. are moral values objectively real and independent of the person making the judgement?)
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