Methods & Materials

Methods for this ethical survey are not as elaborately described as the laboratory methods. The used methods and materials were used in two approaches: describing the ethical considerations in synthetic biology and iGEM specifically on a more general, macro level; describing ethical considerations within the TU Delft iGEM team on a micro level.

Macro ethics

Several articles, readers, reports, fact sheets, websites, etc. were used to create a road map of the ethical considerations in synthetic biology. The used literature can be found in the Ethics Reference section.

Micro ethics

The macro ethical survey resulted in a road map, which depicts the major ethical considerations in synthetic biology. This road map was used to develop a survey, by which the ethical questions and ideas the TU Delft team members and their supervisors have, were logged. For the design of the used questionnaire, help was obtained from the Biotechnology & Society working group of the TU Delft Biotechnology department, and from Huib de Vriend of LIS Consult.

Restrictions

The qualitative analysis of ethical considerations as perceived by team members and supervisors will not generate statistically reliable numbers on general group opinion. That is not how these surveys are to be understood: it is just meant to analyse which issues are recognized by the team members and how these influence their work.

Questionnaire

The used questionnaire can be found below when the results are processed

Glossary

Below, some relevant terms in synthetic biology and how they are used in this website, will be described.