Page - 41 - in Radical Solutions and Open Science - An Open Approach to Boost Higher Education

3 TheEthical IssuesofLearningAnalytics… 43 TheCodewasoriginallyconceivedinresponsetohorrificNazi-sponsoredmedical research and it was inmedicine that it was first applied.However, the application of the Codewas soon extended to all research involving human subjects. This is reflected in allmajor policies and codes on ethics in the social sciences, including the influentialCommonRule in theU.S.A. (U.S.Government, 2017).Forexample, the International Sociological Association (2001) code of ethics states that “The consent of research subjects and informants shouldbeobtained in advance”,while the British Educational Research Association Ethical Guidelines for Educational Research affirm that “It is normally expected that participants’ voluntary informed consent to be involved in the studywill be obtained at the start of the study” and stipulate that “It should be made clear to participants that they can withdraw at anypointwithoutneeding toprovideanexplanation”(BritishEducationalResearch Association,2018,p.9). Alsowith its origins in theSecondWorldWar, a quite different ethical tradition hasdeveloped.DuringtheWar,researcherswereemployedtooptimisetheoperation ofthemilitaryandotheressentialgovernmentservices.Thiswasparticularlythecase intheapplicationofnewtechnologies,suchasradar,whichrequiredthedevelopment ofnewcollaborative sociotechnical processes toachieveoptimalperformance.Rau (2005)describeshowworkwascarriedout …to develop newfilteringmethods, study the effects of the location of stations on radar performanceanddiscoverwhysomeaircraft slipped through the radarnetworkundetected. Rowe referred to thiswork as ‘operational research’ to contrast itwith the ‘developmental research’goingon in the laboratories andworkshops: inORthework tookplace ‘onsite’. ‘Operational’,ormorefrequently‘Operations’Research(OR)continuedinpeace- time,withinvestigationsbeingcarriedoutinbusinesses, industrialorganisationsand the state sector, with the aim of establishing effective processes andmanagement strategies.AsRaucontinues, “the subsequent influence that thesewartime founda- tionshadonORarehardtooverestimate”.Inthe1960scomputermodelsstartedtobe usedextensively tosupportOR,with thedevelopmentofDecisionSupportSystems (seeFerguson and Jones (1969) for an early example). ‘Business Intelligence’ can alsobeseenasamanifestationofOR,whileStaffordBeer (1967)viewedthewhole ofManagementScienceas“thebusinessuseofoperations research”. It is therefore clear thatweare lookingatacontinuousandinfluential traditionofresearchinthese fieldsleadingback(at least) to theSecondWorldWar,whateverdisagreements there maybeabouthowtoname theparts and thewhole. Many in academia will, I suspect, be unfamiliar with the OR tradition and its related fields, and perhaps even doubt that its activities should be classified as ‘research’.However, anearlydefinitionbyPocockdescribesORas follows: OperationsResearchisascientificmethodologyanalytical,experimental,quantitativewhich, byassessingtheoverallimplicationsofvariousalternativecoursesofactioninamanagement systemprovidesan improvedbasis formanagementdecisions. (Pocock,1956) Thus,ORapplies scientificmethodologies to understand theworld, and as such it seemsundeniably to constitute ‘research’. If it is unfamiliar in academia, outside