What is an algorithm, and is it always neutral and objective in making decisions?

This is the question:
Q3: What is an algorithm, and is it always neutral and objective in making decisions? How would we know if/when an algorithm is biased? Provide an example of algorithmic decision-making and design an approach to investigate the potential of bias in the process. Could this approach be applied to a range of different examples, and why (not)?

The final assessment of ARIN3620 – which the research blog and the tutorials and the readings all lead up to – is the research proposal. This is a 2500-word submission in which you outline how you would go about answering a research question. You should split this into four subheadings, and answer:

AIMS AND BACKGROUND (~500 words)
What is the background to your area? What field are you researching? What previous work has been done in this area? What did such research find? What is the cutting edge of scholarship in your field? What are you aiming to do? What is your research question? What will your project discover? I suggest writing this as two paragraphs, the first being background, and the second being aims, which should be a logical extension of the background – you first tell us the current state of research in your field, and then you tell us what you propose to do.
SIGNIFICANCE AND INNOVATION (~500 words)
Why does this research matter? Why should anyone care? What will be the value of the findings? How and in what wayas wil your project be new? What pressing concerns will this answer? Will you be using a new methodology? Will you examining your domain in a new way? Will you be bringing new conceptual or theoretical material to bear? Why is your project not just a repeat of previous work? Why do your project now? Why is your project important? What will this tell us that we didn’t previously know?
APPROACH AND METHODOOLGY (1000 words)
How will you carry out your project? This splits into two parts, a) your conceptual or theoretical approach and b) your methodology. In the first case: how are you framing your work? What theories will help inform your method and help you understand your data? Why have you chosen these? Why are they appropriate? What tools do they give you for conducting this research project? What literature and what thinkers will you draw on? In the second case: what method(s) are you using? Why these methods? What do they offer you? How will you recruit participants (if relevant)? How will you narrow down the availability of online data (if relevant)? How will you secure informed consent (if relevant)? How long will your interviews be and what sorts of things will you ask (if relevant)? How will you distribute your survey and what sorts of questions will it ask (if relevant)? Etc etc. And: how will your chosen method answer your research question? Why are these methods the best possible choice for your research question?

ETHICS STATEMENT (~500 words)
How will you make sure your research is conducted in an ethical manner? What are the main potential ethical issues with your research project? How will you handle them? How will you prevent harm? Do you need to secure informed consent, and if so, why? Is your data public or private? What are the implications of this? What possible harms might arise? Can these be justified given the benefit of the project, or must they be avoided instead, and if so, how? What are the ethical implications of using data from interviews, survey, data analysis, etc? What materials will you provide participants (if relevant)?

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