When is a researcher justified in using personal data for research? How can researchers make sure their digital methods are reliable and transparant? How critical should a researcher be on the digital tools they could use?

The Data Ethics Decision Aid for researchers aims to make these dilemma’s explicit and helps researchers reflect and justify their decisions on ethical issues concerning data research. DEDA for Research is an online survey that asks the researcher a series of open questions. There are no necessarily right or wrong answers, the questions merely function to raise awareness of certain issues and help the researcher document their decision making process.

DEDA for Research can be done at any time during a research project. At the end, the participant will be able to download a PDF-format of the answers they gave for their own documentation.

This tool was developed by Data School, commissioned by ICON (Institute of Cultural Inquiry) 2017.