Ethical Matrix

A simple grid that makes you check, for every group affected by a technology, how it touches their wellbeing, autonomy and fairness, so you can weigh the concerns openly.

What it is¶

The rows of the matrix list the parties affected by a decision and the columns list three principles: wellbeing, autonomy and fairness. You fill each cell with the specific concern for that party, then discuss and weigh the cells as a group. The method borrows from principle-based medical ethics and was first applied to food and agricultural technologies, but it works for any new technology. It does not give you an answer; it makes the range of concerns and the way you weigh them explicit.

In healthcare¶

Kelly et al. (2023) used an ethical matrix workshop, co-designed with a patient expert, to involve people with multiple sclerosis, radiologists, neurologists and computer scientists in research on AI in radiology.

Where to use it in The ELSA Way¶

• Ethical review and approval › Application-specific ethical issues: Filling in the matrix for patients, clinicians and other parties gives you a structured way to find and document the application-specific issues listed in this section.

• Social and societal impact › Health equity: The fairness column asks, for each group, whether the AI would leave them better or worse off, which shows early where inequities could arise.

References¶

• Mepham B. A framework for the ethical analysis of novel foods: the ethical matrix. J Agric Environ Ethics. 2000;12:165-176. Mepham (2000)

• Mepham B, Kaiser M, Thorstensen E, Tomkins S, Millar K. Ethical Matrix Manual. The Hague: LEI; 2006. https://edepot.wur.nl/216589

• Kelly BS, Kirwan A, Quinn MS, et al. The ethical matrix as a method for involving people living with disease and the wider public (PPI) in near-term artificial intelligence research. Radiography. 2023;29:S103-S111. Kelly et al. (2023)

Related tools¶

• Value Sensitive Design: A design approach, with ready-made methods and card decks, for identifying the people and human values a technology affects and building those values into the design from the start.

• Aanpak Begeleidingsethiek: A facilitated workshop method in which the people affected by a new technology map its effects and values together and agree on concrete actions for the technology, its setting and its users.

• Moral Medtech: A cooperative serious game in which patients, clinicians, developers and regulators agree which values a medical AI tool must protect and turn them into design requirements.

Also listed in: RAAIT toolbox.