Many different kinds of societal experiments are being conducted in Finland. Working towards establishing a culture of experiments is among the top projects in the current government programme (2015). This also explains the rise in the number of experiments. Experiments can produce important and uniquely beneficial information to support societal decision-making. To gain this information, it is essential to always involve citizens in the experiments.
In 2016, Demos Helsinki and researchers from the Department of Economics at Aalto University led the project Code of Conduct – National Ethical Code of Conduct for Societal Experiments. The project was implemented as part of the Finnish Government’s Analysis, Assessment and Research Activities and the code of conduct was constructed in close co-operation with a group of high-level experts. The aim of the code of conduct is to assist officials, along with others participating in the planning and implementation of experiments, to ensure that the people influenced by these experiments are fairly, openly and ethically treated – and that the experiments are productively produced. The report drafted as part of the project presents such way of acting which assists in potentially resolving the most important issues.
In order to gain reliable information on the impacts of different kinds of societal actions, it is during the experiments needed to treat people differently from each other and hence differ from the principle of equality. Drawing the line for when this is justified for the purpose of gaining information that eventually benefits the whole society is a central ethical and constitutional question.