Applying Ethical Theory to Data Collection: Harvesting Personalities Online

SCHOOL OF COMPUTING AND MATHS, Charles Sturt University
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Word Count: 1356

Data Collection: “Harvesting” Personalities Online
1. Introduction
The chosen article “Data Collection: Harvesting Personalities Online” discusses whether the
collection of data from the different online surveys are ethical or not. The data is collected
from the online questionnaires associated with a particular survey. The companies make use
of the surveys for harvesting the personalities of hundreds of Americans (University, 2018).
Now the question arises whether the method of personality harvesting ethical or not. An
ethical analysis will be made based on the topic chosen and the ethical situation will be
evaluated in basis of four theories of ethics, which are Utilitarianism Theory, Deontology
theory, virtue theory and contract theory (Gasper, 2016). The information that is generally
collected from the surveys helps in gaining an insight to the behavior of the participants. The
ethical dilemma that arises from the online harvesting of the behavior of a population is
evaluated on basis of four ethical theories in the following sections.
2. Utilitarianism Theory
Utilitarianism theory is based on analysis or morality of the action based on the
consequences of the proposed actions. The ethics analysis of a particular situation should
be evaluated on basis of the action (Hursthouse, 2013). However, according to the
Utilitarianism theory, the rightness or wrongness of a particular action mainly depends on its
consequences (Broad, 2014). This theory aims in achieving greatest happiness for the
majority of the people (Singer, 2013). Therefore, according to this theory, a situation will be
ethical if it ensures happiness of a major number of people.
The chosen case study when analyzed on basis of Utilitarianism theory, it is found to be
unethical. The utilitarianism theory ensures greater happiness. The chosen case study is
based on the data collection or harvesting of data online. The data that is collected is mainly
used in the designing personalized advertisements (Dan-Cohen, 2016). The chosen case
study mainly identifies the ethical dilemma that arises from the use of extrapolating
technique to categorize or assume the personalities of the population that has not
participated in the survey (University, 2018). It is clear that neither the action nor the
consequence of the said act is ethical. This type of survey neither works for greater good not
ensure that happiness of greater mass of people. Thus the current situation is unethical as
harvesting the behavior of population online does not work for greater good.
3. Deontology Theory
The Deontology theory of ethics only deals with rightness or the wrongness of different actions
instead of the rightness or wrongness of the consequences of the action unlike the Utilitarianism
theory. The Deontologists says that whether a situation is good or whether the situation is bad can
be only determined by the action behind the situation (Farseev et al., 2015). If the action is right, the
situation will be ethical while if the action is wrong, the situation will be unethical. According to
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