Chapter 6 -- Ethical Questions in the Design of Technology

Question 1

engineering design

Answer 1

the activity in which certain functions are translated into a blueprint for an artifact, system, or service that can fulfill these functions with the help of engineering knowledge

Question 2

design process

Answer 2

an iterative process in which certain functions are translated into a blueprint for an artifact, system, or service
six stages: problem analysis & formulation, conceptual design, simulation, decision, detail design, prototype development and testing

Question 3

problem analysis

Answer 3

formulation of design requirements

Question 4

conceptual design

Answer 4

creation of alternative conceptual solutions to the design problem and possible reformulation of the problem

Question 5

simulation

Answer 5

testing one or more concept designs to see how well they meet design requirements

Question 6

decision

Answer 6

choice of one conceptual solution from a set of possible solutions

Question 7

detail design

Answer 7

design is further detailed

Question 8

prototype development and testing

Answer 8

a prototype is developed and tested; may lead to adaptations in the design

Question 9

problem analysis stage

Answer 9

stage of the design process in which the designer or the design team analyses and formulates the design problem, including the design requirements

Question 10

design requirements

Answer 10

requirements that a good or acceptable design has to meet

Question 11

technical codes

Answer 11

legal requirements that are enforced by a governmental body to protect safety, health, and other relevant values

Question 12

technical standards

Answer 12

usually recommendations rather than legal requirements that are written by engineering experts in standardization committees

Question 13

certification

Answer 13

the process in which it is judged whether a certain technology meets the applicable technical codes and standards

Question 14

conceptual design stage

Answer 14

stage in which the designer or the design team generates concept designs; focus is on an integral approach to the design problem

Question 15

creativity

Answer 15

virtue of being able to think out or invent new, often unexpected, options or ideas; important professional virtue for designers

Question 16

simulation stage

Answer 16

stage of the design process in which the designer or the design team checks through calculations, tests, and simulations whether the concept designs meet the design requirements

Question 17

decision stage

Answer 17

stage of the design process in which various concept designs are compared with each other and a choice is made for a design that has to be detailed

Question 18

design criteria

Answer 18

kind of design requirements which are formulated in such a way that products meet them to a greater or lesser extent; often used to compare and choose between different concept designs

Question 19

trade off

Answer 19

compromise between design criteria

Question 20

organizational deviance

Answer 20

norms that are seen as deviant or unethical outside the organization are seen within the organization as normal and legitimate

Question 21

detail design stage

Answer 21

stage in which a chosen design is elaborated on and detailed

Question 22

test

Answer 22

the execution of a technology in circumstances set and controlled by the experimenter, and in which data are gathered systematically about how the technology functions in practice

Question 23

value conflict

Answer 23

arises if (1) a choice has to be made between at least two options for which at least two values are relevant as choice criteria (2) at least two different values select at least two different options as best, and (3) the values do not trump each other

Question 24

trumping of values

Answer 24

if one value trumps another any (small) amount of the first value is worth more than any (large) amount of the second value

Question 25

cost-benefit analysis

Answer 25

method for comparing alternatives in which all the relevant advantages (benefits) and disadvantages (costs) of the options are expressed in monetary units and the overall monetary cost or benefit of each alternative is calculated

Question 26

discount rate

Answer 26

rate that is used in cost-benefit analysis to discount future benefits (or costs)

Question 27

contingent validation

Answer 27

an approach to express values like safety or sustainability in monetary units by asking people how much they are willing to pay for a certain level of safety or sustainability

Question 28

incommensurability

Answer 28

two (or more) values are incommensurable if they cannot be expressed or measured on a common scale or in terms of a common value measure

Question 29

multiple criteria analysis

Answer 29

method for comparing alternatives in which various decision criteria are distinguished on basis of which alternatives are scored; on the basis of the score of each of the alternatives on the individual criteria, usually a total score is calculated for each alternative

Question 30

ordinal scale

Answer 30

measurement scale in which only the order of the items of the scale has meaning

Question 31

interval scale

Answer 31

measurement scale in which addition to the order of items also the distance between the items has meaning

Question 32

ratio scale

Answer 32

measurement scale in which the ratio between items on a scale has meaning

Question 33

threshold

Answer 33

minimal level of a (design) criterion or value that an alternative has to meet in order to be acceptable with respect to that criterion or value

Question 34

value sensitive design

Answer 34

an approach that aims at integrating values of ethical importance in a systematic way in engineering design

Question 35

advantages/disadvantages of cost-benefit analysis

Answer 35

advantages: options are made comparable
dis: values are treated as commensurable; may be difficult to adequately express all relevant concerns in monetary terms

Question 36

advantages/disadvantages of multiple criteria analysis

Answer 36

adv: options are made comparable
dis: values are treated as commensurable; result depends on measurement scale

Question 37

advantages/disadvantages of thresholds

Answer 37

adv: selected alternatives meet the thresholds; no direct trade-off between the criteria
dis: can the thresholds be determined independently from each other?; less achieved than possible

Question 38

advantages/disadvantages of reasoning

Answer 38

adv: might solve value conflict by reason and judgement
dis: not all value conflicts can be solved in this way

Question 39

advantages/disadvantages of value sensitive design

Answer 39

adv: can lead to alternatives that are clearly better than all of the present alternatives
dis: does not solve the choice problem in many cases

Question 40

regulatory framework

Answer 40

the totality of (product-specific) rules that apply to the design and development of a technology

Question 41

normal design

Answer 41

design in which the normal configuration and working principle of the product remain the same

Question 42

radical design

Answer 42

opposite of normal design; design in which either the normal configuration or the working principle (or both) of an existing product is changed

Question 43

working principle

Answer 43

the (scientific) principle on which the working of a product is based