WGU D333 - Ethics in Technology: Comprehensive
Pre-Assessment Study Guide with Complete
Questions and Detailed Answers || Latest Update
2026 -Already Graded A+
Question 1
Two programmers disagree about which philosophical theory is best suited for their
autonomous vehicles. One programmer suggests their vehicle should always choose the
greatest good for the greatest number of people. Which philosophical theory
encapsulates this stance?
Answer: Utilitarianism. ✔✔
Rationale: Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that advocates for actions that maximize
overall happiness or well-being for the greatest number of people.
Question 2
What is the difference between ethics and morals?
Answer: Ethics reflect a societal code of behavior, whereas morals reflect personal
principles. ✔✔
Rationale: Ethics are external standards set by communities or organizations, while
morals are internal, personal beliefs about right and wrong.
Question 3
An IT company holds itself accountable for how its actions affect its shareholders,
consumers, employees, community, the environment, and suppliers. What is this
company demonstrating?
Answer: Corporate Social Responsibility. ✔✔
Rationale: CSR involves businesses taking responsibility for their impact on all
stakeholders, including social, environmental, and economic considerations.
Question 4
A homeowners' association (HOA) installs license plate readers after an increase in
reported crime in the neighborhood. Two domestic workers petition the HOA,
pg. 1
,requesting that their data be deleted to protect their privacy. The HOA considers this
but denies their request, citing the greater need for security protection for residents.
Which ethical theory does this represent?
Answer: Consequentialism. ✔✔
Rationale: Consequentialism judges actions by their outcomes; the HOA prioritized
the greater good of resident security over individual privacy concerns.
Question 5
A project team at an animal welfare agency is using predictive analytics to help take
animals out of abusive environments. The algorithm the team designed has a false
positive rate that is higher than zero, which means that some animals could be removed
erroneously if the algorithm's recommendations are followed. The project owner
understands that pets may wrongfully be removed from loving healthy homes but
decides to use the algorithm anyway because it will happen only a small percentage of
the time. Which ethical theory does this represent?
Answer: Consequentialism. ✔✔
Rationale: Consequentialism focuses on outcomes; the decision to accept a small
number of false positives for the greater benefit of removing more animals from abusive
situations reflects this theory.
Question 6
A developer creates video games based on real war scenarios and designs characters that
mimic real people from world events. The video game has content perceived as
excessively violent and rewards players who inflict the most harm on other players'
virtual characters. The developer knows that these are simulated acts that depict real
war scenarios to create an immersive experience for players but is concerned about the
impact on their moral character. Which ethical theory does this situation represent?
Answer: Virtue. ✔✔
Rationale: Virtue ethics focuses on character and moral development; the developer's
concern about the impact on players' moral character reflects this theory.
Question 7
A software sales company is currently struggling with low sales. The company is aware
that one of its competitor's senior sales managers is dissatisfied with the competitor due
to having been overlooked for a promotion to the position of a vice president (VP). The
company approaches the sales manager and offers them a position as VP for sales on the
pg. 2
, condition of bringing the manager's existing customer list and contacts to the new role.
The sales manager is bound by a noncompete clause. Which type of decision-making
process did the company follow?
Answer: Unethical and illegal. ✔✔
Rationale: The company's actions are both unethical (poaching a competitor's
manager with the condition of bringing customer lists) and illegal (violating a
noncompete clause).
Question 8
A municipality decides to use the data it has on household water usage to build an
algorithm that can identify welfare fraud. This would result in a list of potential
fraudsters that could be used to make welfare decisions. Although the municipality is
the rightful owner and processor of the data, citizens have raised privacy issues with the
application. The citizens object that they have no way of knowing whether they are on
the list and have no possibility of redress if they are. Which decision-making process did
the municipality follow?
Answer: Legal but unethical. ✔✔
Rationale: The municipality owns the data and is legally entitled to use it, but using it
for welfare fraud detection without transparency or redress mechanisms is unethical.
Question 9
The marketing department of a financial services institution asks data scientists to build
a consumer profile based on transaction data. Although company lawyers approve the
request to explicitly signal customers with potential gambling addiction problems, the
data scientists refuse to build the profiles. What describes this request?
Answer: Unethical and legal. ✔✔
Rationale: While legally approved, profiling customers for gambling addiction raises
ethical concerns about discrimination and privacy.
Question 10
Which ethical concept is related to the right to use a person's or an organization's
intangible creative activities?
Answer: Property. ✔✔
Rationale: Intellectual property refers to the legal rights protecting intangible creative
works and inventions.
pg. 3
Pre-Assessment Study Guide with Complete
Questions and Detailed Answers || Latest Update
2026 -Already Graded A+
Question 1
Two programmers disagree about which philosophical theory is best suited for their
autonomous vehicles. One programmer suggests their vehicle should always choose the
greatest good for the greatest number of people. Which philosophical theory
encapsulates this stance?
Answer: Utilitarianism. ✔✔
Rationale: Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that advocates for actions that maximize
overall happiness or well-being for the greatest number of people.
Question 2
What is the difference between ethics and morals?
Answer: Ethics reflect a societal code of behavior, whereas morals reflect personal
principles. ✔✔
Rationale: Ethics are external standards set by communities or organizations, while
morals are internal, personal beliefs about right and wrong.
Question 3
An IT company holds itself accountable for how its actions affect its shareholders,
consumers, employees, community, the environment, and suppliers. What is this
company demonstrating?
Answer: Corporate Social Responsibility. ✔✔
Rationale: CSR involves businesses taking responsibility for their impact on all
stakeholders, including social, environmental, and economic considerations.
Question 4
A homeowners' association (HOA) installs license plate readers after an increase in
reported crime in the neighborhood. Two domestic workers petition the HOA,
pg. 1
,requesting that their data be deleted to protect their privacy. The HOA considers this
but denies their request, citing the greater need for security protection for residents.
Which ethical theory does this represent?
Answer: Consequentialism. ✔✔
Rationale: Consequentialism judges actions by their outcomes; the HOA prioritized
the greater good of resident security over individual privacy concerns.
Question 5
A project team at an animal welfare agency is using predictive analytics to help take
animals out of abusive environments. The algorithm the team designed has a false
positive rate that is higher than zero, which means that some animals could be removed
erroneously if the algorithm's recommendations are followed. The project owner
understands that pets may wrongfully be removed from loving healthy homes but
decides to use the algorithm anyway because it will happen only a small percentage of
the time. Which ethical theory does this represent?
Answer: Consequentialism. ✔✔
Rationale: Consequentialism focuses on outcomes; the decision to accept a small
number of false positives for the greater benefit of removing more animals from abusive
situations reflects this theory.
Question 6
A developer creates video games based on real war scenarios and designs characters that
mimic real people from world events. The video game has content perceived as
excessively violent and rewards players who inflict the most harm on other players'
virtual characters. The developer knows that these are simulated acts that depict real
war scenarios to create an immersive experience for players but is concerned about the
impact on their moral character. Which ethical theory does this situation represent?
Answer: Virtue. ✔✔
Rationale: Virtue ethics focuses on character and moral development; the developer's
concern about the impact on players' moral character reflects this theory.
Question 7
A software sales company is currently struggling with low sales. The company is aware
that one of its competitor's senior sales managers is dissatisfied with the competitor due
to having been overlooked for a promotion to the position of a vice president (VP). The
company approaches the sales manager and offers them a position as VP for sales on the
pg. 2
, condition of bringing the manager's existing customer list and contacts to the new role.
The sales manager is bound by a noncompete clause. Which type of decision-making
process did the company follow?
Answer: Unethical and illegal. ✔✔
Rationale: The company's actions are both unethical (poaching a competitor's
manager with the condition of bringing customer lists) and illegal (violating a
noncompete clause).
Question 8
A municipality decides to use the data it has on household water usage to build an
algorithm that can identify welfare fraud. This would result in a list of potential
fraudsters that could be used to make welfare decisions. Although the municipality is
the rightful owner and processor of the data, citizens have raised privacy issues with the
application. The citizens object that they have no way of knowing whether they are on
the list and have no possibility of redress if they are. Which decision-making process did
the municipality follow?
Answer: Legal but unethical. ✔✔
Rationale: The municipality owns the data and is legally entitled to use it, but using it
for welfare fraud detection without transparency or redress mechanisms is unethical.
Question 9
The marketing department of a financial services institution asks data scientists to build
a consumer profile based on transaction data. Although company lawyers approve the
request to explicitly signal customers with potential gambling addiction problems, the
data scientists refuse to build the profiles. What describes this request?
Answer: Unethical and legal. ✔✔
Rationale: While legally approved, profiling customers for gambling addiction raises
ethical concerns about discrimination and privacy.
Question 10
Which ethical concept is related to the right to use a person's or an organization's
intangible creative activities?
Answer: Property. ✔✔
Rationale: Intellectual property refers to the legal rights protecting intangible creative
works and inventions.
pg. 3
