Assessment of ethical aspects

As part of its “Strategic Plan 2009-2011”, HAS undertook to establish the conditions under which it proposes to analyse ethical aspects in its assessments, and the method to be used. The aim of this work is to establish formal processes to ensure uniformity across the reports HAS produces when they include an assessment of ethical aspects, and to make it easier for its conclusions to be adopted by providing the stakeholders who are their intended audience with keys to understanding the approach used.

The method is based on:
·  a checklist to identify assessments that raise ethical aspects;
·  proposals for identifying all the ethical arguments;
·  a reference framework to take them into account;
·  a synthesis table to examine the ethical arguments in relation to the conclusions from other dimensions of the assessment and to identify the main conflicts;
·  examples of classifications to help identify and describe sources of reasonable disagreement.