Evaluating University Data Collection Through Ethical Frameworks

This essay delves into the ethical implications of the University of Arizona's data collection practices, specifically concerning student data gathered through CatCards and Wi-Fi hubs. The essay examines whether the university's methods are ethical, considering privacy and security concerns. It applies key ethical theories, including Utilitarianism, Deontology, Virtue Theory, and Contract Theory, to evaluate the university's actions. The analysis reveals that the university's approach raises significant ethical dilemmas, particularly regarding transparency, consent, and the potential misuse of student data. The essay concludes that the university's actions are unethical due to a lack of transparency and failure to provide students with an option to opt out, recommending policy changes to ensure ethical data collection and usage.

Topics in Ethics 1 | P a g e
Topics in Ethics

Topics in Ethics 2 | P a g e
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Utilitarianism Theory.......................................................................................................................3
Deontology Theory..........................................................................................................................4
Virtue Theory...................................................................................................................................4
Contract Theory...............................................................................................................................4
What you think................................................................................................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................5
References........................................................................................................................................6

Topics in Ethics 3 | P a g e
Case study: https://www.scu.edu/ethics/focus-areas/internet-ethics/resources/students-and-
sensors-data-education-privacy-and-research/
Introduction
This essay will highlight on the case of University of Arizona in order to understand the ethical
implications of using the sensors to gather the data in relevance with the students for the purpose
of the research of the organization. Since the revolution of internet cyber threats have been
increased immensely and in relevance to this, significance of ethical principles has also been
grown.
Introduction to case
In relation to reduce the impact of cyber threats, University of Arizona has issues CatCards to its
students which will provide information regarding entry and exit of students from any of the
locations in the campus. Primary reason for collecting this data for University was to determine
the reasons for shortfall in the attendance in the second year. Approximately 20% students did
not attended the classes in second year and with the help of this data, University will easily be
able to determine the information of people who were not present in the campus with the
objective of retaining them for the further classes. While the major purpose was to collect entry
and exit of students but it also collected sundry private information like their routines, friends,
hangouts, places they visit, etc.
University assures students that when data will be sent to the research department, it will be sent
anonymously but personal information could also be shared with the academic advisers for better
results. In order to make the process of data collection reliable and quick, University planned to
install 8,000 Wi-Fi hubs in the campus and the collection of data starts from the first day which
will be continued for further three years (Peters, 2015). Glitch in this process was that most of
the students did not know about the research executed by University and neither they were
giving option to back off from the research and this essay will focus over the process adopted by
the University for collecting data is ethical and whether it will lead to raise any private or
security concerns. In relevance with making better understanding of the case, theories such as

Topics in Ethics 4 | P a g e
utilitarianism, deontology, virtue and contract ethical theory will be applied for the objective of
raising ethical dilemma of this case.
Utilitarianism Theory
This theory is based on normative theories and the major purpose of this theory is to determine
the morality of situation on the basis of its ramifications. Another primary focus of this theory is
to think for the good for greater number of individuals. This theory analyses ramifications of a
particular situation in consideration to determining whether actions of an individual, entity or
group of individuals are ethical or unethical. As per this case study, key stakeholders are students
and University and in respect of University, their aim of collecting data was to determine the
reason due to which attrition rate has been increased. In the second year, approximately 20%
students did not join the campus and University was executing the research for the objective of
determining reasons for the high attrition rate. With regards to this, it has been evaluated that
ramifications of this research can be dangerous as it could directly affect the security and privacy
of the students (Sorokin, 2017).
Although, data will be shared on anonymous manner but it is also shared with personal details to
the advisors and it could affect the privacy of the students because research was being executed
without informing the students. With regards to this research, University was willing to retain
more students and this purpose is contradicted as per the Utilitarianism approach because
University did not considered benefit of greater number of people. Ramifications of this decision
are disastrous because students’ private information could be leaked, thus, this decision is
unethical as per this theory (Crane & Matten, 2016).
Deontology Theory
Deontology theory is also a substantial part of normative theories and it is also a part of crucial
ethical theories. In this theory, morality of actions are defined on the basis of right and wrong
which are evaluated on the basis of certain rules rather evaluating on the basis of ramifications of
actions. This theory contains certain elements and on the basis of those elements, it is decided
that whether actions of an individual are right or wrong. It has been evaluated that research
executed by University is unethical as per this deontology theory. It is necessary to maintain an

Topics in Ethics 5 | P a g e
unethical framework by the parties as they are responsible for using the data of students in higher
education as per EDUCAUSE Review (Trevino & Nelson, 2016). While collecting the data of
individuals, it is necessary to maintain the transparency as per the key principles of this theory.
Actions of University are unethical because they have failed to maintain clear picture in
relevance with the extent of information which is directly collected by institution and shared with
the third party organizations. Another unethical actions is done by the University is the wrong
way chosen for accessing the information. Further, University has also failed to review the
information on the basis of clear articulated government process. Students were not given the
chance to opt out from the research which is another unethical decision taken by the University.
Virtue Theory
Virtue theory majorly focuses on the moral character of the parties rather focusing on the
ramifications and the actions of individuals as per utilitarianism and deontology theory
respectively in terms of accessing the morality. Virtue theory is also considered as the character
based approach which describes that people adopts virtues on the basis of their personal life
experiences. As per Aristotle’s approach, certain moral characters such as generosity, honesty,
fairness, bravery, integrity, etc. needs to be adopted in order to create good virtues. As per this
case study, University has executed the research for collecting data of students without informing
them and their private information is also being shared to the third parties which is an unethical
action. Thus, it could be said that University has not adopt good virtues while executing the
research. Apart from this, other unethical act done by University was not providing an
appropriate option to the students to back off from the research if they do not want to share their
personal information (Mill, 2016).
Contract Theory
Contractarianism or contract theory states that parties should comply with certain set of rules
which governs their behaviour in the society. Irrelevance to thee rules which governs their
behaviour, individuals have adopted ideal social contracts in order to act rational and ethical as
per the situation. As per this theory, research conducted by the University is unethical because
they did not took permission from the students before sharing their personal information with

Topics in Ethics 6 | P a g e
third parties and as per the social contracts, it is necessary for the University to maintain
transparency while executing the research because University has accessed personal information
of the students and that too without their consent (Charura, McFarlane, Walker & Williams,
2017). Along with this, another social breach done by the University was not providing option to
the students to back off from the research, thus, University failed to comply with the elements of
this theory and thus, University’s actions considered as unethical (Bai, 2017).
What you think
Main aim of the University of Arizona was to understand the reason why students’ presence falls
short after attending the classes in the first year. University’s aim was clear and correct but the
method used by the University to gather data raised severe ethical concerns. Before collecting
personal information of the students, University should have informed the students or they
should have taken permission from the students because collecting private information could
lead to various severe privacy and security issues. University does not cleared to the students
regarding the reason for collecting their data, thus, many students were unaware about the usage
of their collected data. Apart from this, University also shared the data with the third party
organizations which is a big concern because students’ private data could be used in a negative
manner which could lead to generate various security and privacy issues. Thus, it has been
evaluated that the reason for conducting research was correct but the method used for collecting
data was incorrect and unethical so it is recommended to the University to adopt certain changes
in their policies to maintain a clear and transparent system for the collection and usage of their
data (Bell, Dyck & Neubert, 2017).
Conclusion
While analysing the case study of University of Arizona, it has been evaluated that actions of
University was unethical with respect to the theories such as utilitarianism, deontology, virtue
and contract. Amongst the whole course of action, major fault was analysed from the end of
University because they did not practiced a transparent process for collecting data. In addition to
this, University did not provided chance to the students to back off from the collection of data as
University has also collected private data from the students. So, it is required for the University

Topics in Ethics 7 | P a g e
to adopt an ethical framework for the objective of collecting data and for performing actions in
an appropriate and effective manner.

Topics in Ethics 8 | P a g e
References
Bai, F. (2017). Beyond dominance and competence: A moral virtue theory of status
attainment. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 21(3), 203-227.
Bell, G. G., Dyck, B., & Neubert, M. J. (2017). Ethical Leadership, Virtue Theory, And Generic
Strategies. Radical Thoughts on Ethical Leadership, 113.
Charura, D., McFarlane, K., Walker, B., & Williams, G. A. (2017). Above all, do no harm:
Towards more ethical ways of being and acting in psychological formulation. In Clinical
Psychology Forum. The British Psychological Society.
Crane, A., & Matten, D. (2016). Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and
sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press.
Mill, J. S. (2016). Utilitarianism. In Seven Masterpieces of Philosophy, 337-383. Routledge.
Peters, R. S. (2015). Ethics and Education (Routledge Revivals). Routledge.
Sorokin, P. (2017). Social and cultural dynamics: A study of change in major systems of art,
truth, ethics, law and social relationships. Routledge.
Trevino, L. K., & Nelson, K. A. (2016). Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do
it right. John Wiley & Sons.