Statistical Methods for ICT Ethics Studies

Statistical methods are essential for qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method research methodology. Mostly, statistical methods involve mathematical formulas, models, and techniques used in analyzing data. Each method and statistical analysis used brings different results to a study. Therefore, this study aims to explore the use of statistical methods in the ICT ethics area. This study reviews the research done on ICT ethics for the years 2015 until 2020. The research questions addressed in this study are: (i) What statistical methods were used in the ICT ethics research? and (ii) What application area in ICT ethics employ the statistical methods? The findings indicated that the inferential statistical method was most employed, followed by the descriptive statistical method and other methods. Also, non-parametric was the most technique used compared to parametric. Meanwhile, the application area in ICT ethics that employ statistical methods is privacy, piracy, access right, cybercrime, harmful action, social impact, and other related ethics issues such as hacking, internet addiction, free speech, and cyberloafing. The implication of the study is described.

I. Introduction

According to Bhardwaj, Avasthi, and Goundar [1], the quality of research depends on the applied methodology. There are three types of research methodology: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method. Qualitative methodology refers to the research focused on a word (written or spoken) and textual data collection and analysis. In contrast, the quantitative methodology focuses on numerical data measurement and testing [2]. Mixed-method includes qualitative and quantitative data collection approaches and interpretation of a single study [3]. In quantitative methodology, one of the main branches is the statistical method. The statistical method is considered as the main factor to determine the quality of a study.