Digital bioethics: introducing new methods for the study of bioethical issues

Area of Science:

• Bioethics
• Computational Social Science
• Social Data Science

Background:

• The internet serves as a public square for discussing complex ethical issues in science, technology, and medicine.
• Computational and social data science offer new methods for analyzing online interactions and data.
• Empirical bioethics can leverage these digital methods to study emerging online phenomena and ethical debates.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate the effective application of digital social science methods within bioethics.
• To explore how these methods can investigate novel digital phenomena and trace the evolution of bioethical issues online.
• To propose and define a new research domain: digital bioethics.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing concrete examples to illustrate the application of digital social science approaches.
• Integrating computational social science and social data science techniques.
• Analyzing online discussions and phenomena relevant to bioethics.

Main Results:

• Novel digital methods can be effectively applied to bioethics research.
• The integration of digital approaches aligns with and expands the aims of empirical bioethics.
• This digital turn enhances bioethics' capacity to address contemporary ethical challenges in science and technology.

Conclusions:

• Digital bioethics offers a robust framework for studying online ethical issues.
• This interdisciplinary approach reinforces bioethics' relevance in an increasingly digital world.
• Digital bioethics expands the scope of empirical bioethics by incorporating digital data and methods.