title: Research across the disciplines: a road map for quality criteria in empirical ethics research.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Research in the field of Empirical Ethics (EE) uses a broad variety of empirical methodologies, such as surveys, interviews and observation, developed in disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, and psychology. Whereas these empirical disciplines see themselves as purely descriptive, EE also aims at normative reflection. Currently there is literature about the quality of empirical research in ethics, but little or no reflection on specific methodological aspects that must be considered when conducting interdisciplinary empirical ethics. Furthermore, poor methodology in an EE study results in misleading ethical analyses, evaluations or recommendations. This not only deprives the study of scientific and social value, but also risks ethical misjudgement.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  While empirical and normative-ethical research projects have quality criteria in their own right, we focus on the specific quality criteria for EE research. We develop a tentative list of quality criteria--a "road map"--tailored to interdisciplinary research in EE, to guide assessments of research quality. These quality criteria fall into the categories of primary research question, theoretical framework and methods, relevance, interdisciplinary research practice and research ethics and scientific ethos.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  EE research is an important and innovative development in bioethics. However, a lack of standards has led to concerns about and even rejection of EE by various scholars. Our suggested orientation list of criteria, presented in the form of reflective questions, cannot be considered definitive, but serves as a tool to provoke systematic reflection during the planning and composition of an EE research study. These criteria need to be tested in different EE research settings and further refined.
authors.forename: Marcel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mertz
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Inthorn
authors.forename: Günter
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Renz
authors.forename: Lillian Geza
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Rothenberger
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Salloch
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schildmann
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wöhlke
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine, University Medical Center Göttingen, Humboldtallee 36, D-37073 Göttingen, Germany. silke.schicktanz@medizin.uni-goettingen.de.
authors.forename: Silke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schicktanz
mesh_terms: D026688:Bioethical Issues; D036262:Empirical Research; D028663:Ethical Theory; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D008297:Male; D009014:Morals; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000941:ethics; D012107:Research Design