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PP5003 Policy Ethics

Academic year

2026 to 2027 Semester 1

Further information on which modules are specific to your programme.

Key module information

SCOTCAT credits

15

The Scottish Credit Accumulation and Transfer (SCOTCAT) system allows credits gained in Scotland to be transferred between institutions. The number of credits associated with a module gives an indication of the amount of learning effort required by the learner. European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) credits are half the value of SCOTCAT credits.

SCQF level

SCQF level 11

The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) provides an indication of the complexity of award qualifications and associated learning and operates on an ascending numeric scale from Levels 1-12 with SCQF Level 10 equating to a Scottish undergraduate Honours degree.

Availability restrictions

Students enrolled in Master of Public Policy

Planned timetable

To be confirmed

This information is given as indicative. Timetable may change at short notice depending on room availability.

Module coordinator

Dr B A Sachs-Cobbe

This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module Staff

Dr Benjamin Sachs-Cobbe; Dr Joseph Millum

This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module description

This module is a survey of topics relating to the ethics of policy and policy research. These may include: (1) Human subjects research ethics with a focus on policy experiments, surveys, and database research. This will cover questions of trial design, risk analysis, privacy, consent, and the process of getting ethics approval. (2) Professional ethics, broadly understood to cover research misconduct, conflicts of interest, the use and misuse of artificial intelligence, and data management, among other topics. (3) Ethics and economic methods, including questions concerning the value of a statistical life, measures of inequality, outcome evaluation, and the like. (4) Fundamental questions, such as accounts of distributive justice, democracy, stakeholder inclusion, and the nature of expertise.

Assessment pattern

Coursework= 100%

Re-assessment

Coursework= 100%

Learning and teaching methods and delivery

Weekly contact

weekly 2 hour seminar

Intended learning outcomes

  • Develop awareness of key aspects of professional ethics as they apply to public policy, including research misconduct, conflicts of interest, and the ethical use of data.
  • Be able to perceive when economists are making ethically-laden choices, e.g. among various possible outcome measures and measures of inequality, when giving policy recommendations.
  • Learn the basics of political philosophy as they bear on ethical policy decisions, such as issues in distributive justice and the nature and value of democracy.
  • Understand the fundamentals of research ethics and apply key concepts to the design of social science experiments.