Another view of computer science ethics: Patterns of responses among computer scientists

Two studies of attitudes toward issues of ethics in computing are described, attempting to identify patterns of responses toward ethical issues in computer science, as well as the relationships between different levels of technical expertise and gender to pattern of responses.

Abstract

Abstract Within the computer science community, issues of ethics have emerged as significant and critical concerns. However, as computer scientists, we have little empirical information about how we feel about computer science ethics. We review the literature related to our work: studies of the attitudes of computer scientists towards issues of ethics, studies of the effects of technical expertise on attitudes toward ethical issues, and studies of the effects of gender on attitudes toward ethical issues. We describe two studies of attitudes toward issues of ethics in computing. In Study I, we attempted to identify patterns of responses toward ethical issues in computer science, as well as the relationships between different levels of technical expertise and gender to patterns of responses. In Study II, we focused on changes in responses to ethical issues as computer science students gain technical expertise. We also investigated effects of gender on responses in Study II. We found that four patterns of responses occurred. We also demonstrated some differences in responses among subjects of different genders and levels of technical expertise.