Collaborative Research: Foundational Community-Based Research for Ethics in Mathematics

合作研究：基于社区的基础数学伦理研究

基本信息

批准号：
2024244
负责人：
Catherine Buell
金额：
$ 1.7万
依托单位：
Fitchburg State University
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Standard Grant
财政年份：
2020
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2020-07-01 至 2022-06-30
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2024244&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
Collaborative Research Foundational Community Based

项目摘要

Professional ethics standards for mathematicians is both a relatively novel issue and a critical one at this moment in time. The use of big data and algorithms in today's technological society has been shown to perpetuate inequalities. The design of algorithms and use of big data often involve the work of mathematicians. Professional codes of ethics for many mathematical professional societies tend to focus on academic issues and do not explicitly address these newer issues and contexts. Moreover, there is a sense within the field of mathematics that mathematics is abstract and as such free from ethical considerations. This one-year Ethical and Responsible Research incubation grant aims to gather information on what ethical guidelines mathematicians believe are relevant to mathematics and which elements of ethics are missing from current professional codes and guidelines.The project makes use of ethics codes from mathematics-adjacent fields and professional societies such as the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the American Statistical Association (ASA). These societies have recently updated their codes to better reflect contemporary issues of ethics in areas such as big data and algorithm design. Using survey and focus group methods, the project interrogates which elements from the current codes of the two major academic mathematics professional societies, the Mathematics Association of America (MAA) and the American Mathematical Society (AMS) mathematicians see as most relevant to their work. The survey and focus group work will also evaluate the extent to which mathematicians feel that the ethical guidelines from the mathematics-adjacent professional societies are relevant to their work and what additional guidelines might be necessary that are specific to the field of mathematics. The work of this study lays the groundwork for broader impacts as this foundational work will guide discussions within the field of mathematics, revisions to codes of ethics by mathematics professional organizations, and stronger ethical behavior on the part of mathematicians in university and industry contexts. This grant is intended to be followed by a three-year Ethical and Responsible Research proposal to extend the data collection and white paper work of the incubation project into the construction of informed ethical practice guidelines and educational materials for mathematicians and their professional societies.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

数学家的职业道德标准既是一个相对新颖的问题，又是关键问题。在当今的技术社会中，大数据和算法的使用已被证明可以永久性不平等。算法的设计和大数据的使用通常涉及数学家的工作。许多数学专业社会的专业道德准则倾向于专注于学术问题，并且不会明确解决这些新的问题和背景。此外，数学领域的一种感觉是，数学是抽象的，并且没有道德考虑。这项为期一年的道德和负责任的研究孵化资金旨在收集有关数学家认为与数学相关的道德准则的信息，以及当前专业代码和准则中缺少哪些道德的要素。该项目利用了数学 - Adjacent-Adjacent领域和专业社会的伦理代码，例如计算Machinery（ACM）和美国统计协会（ACM ASSISTISS）（ACM ASSISTISS）（ACMASICSISTICS）（ACMASICTISS）（ACMASICSISTICS）（ACMASICTISS）（ACASISTISS）（ACA）。这些社会最近更新了他们的代码，以更好地反映大数据和算法设计等领域的当代道德问题。该项目使用调查和焦点小组方法询问了两个主要学术数学专业社会的当前代码，美国数学协会（MAA）和美国数学学会（AMS）数学家认为与他们的工作最相关的要素。调查和焦点小组的工作还将评估数学家认为，数学 - 高贵的专业社会的道德准则与他们的工作有关，以及可能需要采取哪些其他准则，这些准则可能与数学领域有关。这项研究的工作为更广泛的影响奠定了基础，因为这项基础工作将指导数学领域的讨论，数学专业组织对伦理守则的修订以及大学和行业环境中数学家的更强道德行为。该赠款旨在进行为期三年的道德和负责任的研究建议，以将孵化项目的数据收集和白皮书工作扩展到数学家及其专业社会的知情道德实践指南和教育材料的构建中。该奖项反映了NSF的立法使命，并被认为是通过基金会的智力优点和广泛的评估来进行评估的，并值得通过评估来进行评估。