Analysis of the ethical issues and existing regulations. Deliverable of the AAL PaeLife project
Abstract
The purpose of this document is to question and thus clarify the ethical issues that arise in the PaeLife project. Since the objective of the project is to design a communication system to fight elderly social isolation, this approach raises ethical questions at different levels and throughout the different phases of the project. On the one hand, this research project involves participatory methods and data collection procedures. The target users are older adults which raises questions of the respect for their autonomy and dignity. On the other hand, because of the specificities of the communication system that is being designed, the digital data involved also raises ethical and privacy issues. These questions have been the object of discussions and collective thinking among the project partners. The aim was to collect and consider these ethical issues, both reflecting on our research practices and also complying with the regulatory framework of each partner country. These important questions have helped to organize the structure of this document.