1
WGU D333 PRE-ASSESSMENT VERSION 2 ACTUAL
2026/2027 | Ethics in Technology Alternate Form | Grade
A Verified Questions & Answers | Pass Guaranteed - A+
Graded
Section 1: Ethical Decision-Making Models & Case Analysis (Q1-
12)
Q1. A software development team discovers that their new facial recognition system
has significantly higher error rates for darker-skinned individuals. Applying an ethical
decision-making model, the first step the team should take is:
A. Immediately release the product with a disclaimer about accuracy limitations
B. Identify all stakeholders affected by the system's deployment, including affected
demographic groups, customers, and the organization
C. File a patent for the algorithm to protect intellectual property
D. Lobby regulators to change accuracy standards for facial recognition technology
Correct Answer: B. Identify all stakeholders affected by the system's deployment,
including affected demographic groups, customers, and the organization
[CORRECT] Rationale: Ethical decision-making begins with stakeholder
identification to understand who is affected and how. Releasing with disclaimers (A)
is premature; patenting (C) is irrelevant to the ethical issue; lobbying (D) avoids
addressing the problem.
Q2. A technology company is considering implementing employee monitoring
software that tracks keystrokes, emails, and web browsing. Using a stakeholder
analysis power/interest grid, which stakeholder group would be classified as having
high power and high interest?
A. Individual end-users of the company's products
B. The company's board of directors and senior executives
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C. Competitor organizations
D. Environmental advocacy groups
Correct Answer: B. The company's board of directors and senior executives
[CORRECT] Rationale: The board and executives have high power (decision-making
authority) and high interest (organizational outcomes, legal liability, employee
relations) in monitoring policies. End-users (A) have low power/interest; competitors
(C) and environmental groups (D) have minimal direct stake.
Q3. The moral intensity of an ethical dilemma is determined by factors including the
magnitude of consequences, social consensus, probability of effect, and:
A. The profitability of the technology involved
B. Temporal immediacy, proximity, and concentration of effect
C. The marketing budget allocated to the product
D. The number of patents held by the organization
Correct Answer: B. Temporal immediacy, proximity, and concentration of effect
[CORRECT] Rationale: Jones's moral intensity framework includes magnitude,
consensus, probability, temporal immediacy, proximity, and concentration of effect.
Profitability (A), marketing budget (C), and patents (D) are not moral intensity factors.
Q4. A project manager must decide whether to ship a medical device software
update containing a known minor bug that could cause incorrect dosage calculations
in 0.01% of cases. The moral intensity of this dilemma is high primarily because of:
A. The low probability of the bug occurring
B. The magnitude of consequences (potential patient harm or death) and temporal
immediacy of the risk
C. The software update's marketing timeline
D. The competitor's similar product having the same bug
Correct Answer: B. The magnitude of consequences (potential patient harm or
death) and temporal immediacy of the risk [CORRECT] Rationale: Medical device
,3
errors causing patient harm represent high magnitude and temporal immediacy,
elevating moral intensity despite low probability. Marketing timelines (C) and
competitor bugs (D) are irrelevant to moral intensity.
Q5. A data scientist is asked to manipulate research findings to make a company's AI
product appear more accurate than it is. Applying the utilitarian ethical framework,
the data scientist should evaluate:
A. Only the immediate financial benefits to the company
B. The greatest good for the greatest number, considering harms to consumers, the
company, and public trust in AI
C. The personal career advancement potential of complying
D. Whether the manipulation is technically difficult to detect
Correct Answer: B. The greatest good for the greatest number, considering harms
to consumers, the company, and public trust in AI [CORRECT] Rationale:
Utilitarianism requires evaluating consequences for all stakeholders to maximize
overall welfare. Financial benefits alone (A), career advancement (C), and detection
difficulty (D) are not utilitarian considerations.
Q6. A cybersecurity firm discovers a critical vulnerability in a widely used open-source
library. Under the principles of responsible disclosure, the firm should:
A. Publicly release the vulnerability details immediately to warn all users
B. Notify the library maintainers privately, allow a reasonable time for patching
(typically 90 days), and then disclose publicly if unpatched
C. Sell the vulnerability to the highest bidder on the dark web
D. Ignore the vulnerability because it is not their product
Correct Answer: B. Notify the library maintainers privately, allow a reasonable
time for patching (typically 90 days), and then disclose publicly if unpatched
[CORRECT] Rationale: Responsible disclosure balances security by allowing time for
, 4
remediation before public disclosure. Immediate release (A) risks exploitation; selling
(C) is unethical and illegal; ignoring (D) is negligent.
Q7. A technology company's ethical review board is evaluating a proposal to use
predictive analytics for hiring decisions. The board applies a deontological (duty-
based) framework and focuses on:
A. Maximizing the company's profit margin through efficient hiring
B. Whether the process respects the dignity and rights of all applicants, regardless of
outcomes
C. The statistical accuracy of the predictive model
D. The speed of the hiring process compared to manual review
Correct Answer: B. Whether the process respects the dignity and rights of all
applicants, regardless of outcomes [CORRECT] Rationale: Deontology evaluates
whether actions respect moral duties and human dignity, independent of
consequences. Profit (A), accuracy (C), and speed (D) are consequentialist/utilitarian
considerations.
Q8. A social media platform must decide whether to remove content that is
technically legal but widely considered harmful misinformation. Using virtue ethics,
the platform should consider:
A. What action maximizes quarterly advertising revenue
B. What a virtuous organization would do, considering honesty, responsibility, and
care for community welfare
C. Whether the content generates the most user engagement
D. What action requires the least engineering effort
Correct Answer: B. What a virtuous organization would do, considering honesty,
responsibility, and care for community welfare [CORRECT] Rationale: Virtue
ethics asks what a person or organization of good character would do, emphasizing
WGU D333 PRE-ASSESSMENT VERSION 2 ACTUAL
2026/2027 | Ethics in Technology Alternate Form | Grade
A Verified Questions & Answers | Pass Guaranteed - A+
Graded
Section 1: Ethical Decision-Making Models & Case Analysis (Q1-
12)
Q1. A software development team discovers that their new facial recognition system
has significantly higher error rates for darker-skinned individuals. Applying an ethical
decision-making model, the first step the team should take is:
A. Immediately release the product with a disclaimer about accuracy limitations
B. Identify all stakeholders affected by the system's deployment, including affected
demographic groups, customers, and the organization
C. File a patent for the algorithm to protect intellectual property
D. Lobby regulators to change accuracy standards for facial recognition technology
Correct Answer: B. Identify all stakeholders affected by the system's deployment,
including affected demographic groups, customers, and the organization
[CORRECT] Rationale: Ethical decision-making begins with stakeholder
identification to understand who is affected and how. Releasing with disclaimers (A)
is premature; patenting (C) is irrelevant to the ethical issue; lobbying (D) avoids
addressing the problem.
Q2. A technology company is considering implementing employee monitoring
software that tracks keystrokes, emails, and web browsing. Using a stakeholder
analysis power/interest grid, which stakeholder group would be classified as having
high power and high interest?
A. Individual end-users of the company's products
B. The company's board of directors and senior executives
,2
C. Competitor organizations
D. Environmental advocacy groups
Correct Answer: B. The company's board of directors and senior executives
[CORRECT] Rationale: The board and executives have high power (decision-making
authority) and high interest (organizational outcomes, legal liability, employee
relations) in monitoring policies. End-users (A) have low power/interest; competitors
(C) and environmental groups (D) have minimal direct stake.
Q3. The moral intensity of an ethical dilemma is determined by factors including the
magnitude of consequences, social consensus, probability of effect, and:
A. The profitability of the technology involved
B. Temporal immediacy, proximity, and concentration of effect
C. The marketing budget allocated to the product
D. The number of patents held by the organization
Correct Answer: B. Temporal immediacy, proximity, and concentration of effect
[CORRECT] Rationale: Jones's moral intensity framework includes magnitude,
consensus, probability, temporal immediacy, proximity, and concentration of effect.
Profitability (A), marketing budget (C), and patents (D) are not moral intensity factors.
Q4. A project manager must decide whether to ship a medical device software
update containing a known minor bug that could cause incorrect dosage calculations
in 0.01% of cases. The moral intensity of this dilemma is high primarily because of:
A. The low probability of the bug occurring
B. The magnitude of consequences (potential patient harm or death) and temporal
immediacy of the risk
C. The software update's marketing timeline
D. The competitor's similar product having the same bug
Correct Answer: B. The magnitude of consequences (potential patient harm or
death) and temporal immediacy of the risk [CORRECT] Rationale: Medical device
,3
errors causing patient harm represent high magnitude and temporal immediacy,
elevating moral intensity despite low probability. Marketing timelines (C) and
competitor bugs (D) are irrelevant to moral intensity.
Q5. A data scientist is asked to manipulate research findings to make a company's AI
product appear more accurate than it is. Applying the utilitarian ethical framework,
the data scientist should evaluate:
A. Only the immediate financial benefits to the company
B. The greatest good for the greatest number, considering harms to consumers, the
company, and public trust in AI
C. The personal career advancement potential of complying
D. Whether the manipulation is technically difficult to detect
Correct Answer: B. The greatest good for the greatest number, considering harms
to consumers, the company, and public trust in AI [CORRECT] Rationale:
Utilitarianism requires evaluating consequences for all stakeholders to maximize
overall welfare. Financial benefits alone (A), career advancement (C), and detection
difficulty (D) are not utilitarian considerations.
Q6. A cybersecurity firm discovers a critical vulnerability in a widely used open-source
library. Under the principles of responsible disclosure, the firm should:
A. Publicly release the vulnerability details immediately to warn all users
B. Notify the library maintainers privately, allow a reasonable time for patching
(typically 90 days), and then disclose publicly if unpatched
C. Sell the vulnerability to the highest bidder on the dark web
D. Ignore the vulnerability because it is not their product
Correct Answer: B. Notify the library maintainers privately, allow a reasonable
time for patching (typically 90 days), and then disclose publicly if unpatched
[CORRECT] Rationale: Responsible disclosure balances security by allowing time for
, 4
remediation before public disclosure. Immediate release (A) risks exploitation; selling
(C) is unethical and illegal; ignoring (D) is negligent.
Q7. A technology company's ethical review board is evaluating a proposal to use
predictive analytics for hiring decisions. The board applies a deontological (duty-
based) framework and focuses on:
A. Maximizing the company's profit margin through efficient hiring
B. Whether the process respects the dignity and rights of all applicants, regardless of
outcomes
C. The statistical accuracy of the predictive model
D. The speed of the hiring process compared to manual review
Correct Answer: B. Whether the process respects the dignity and rights of all
applicants, regardless of outcomes [CORRECT] Rationale: Deontology evaluates
whether actions respect moral duties and human dignity, independent of
consequences. Profit (A), accuracy (C), and speed (D) are consequentialist/utilitarian
considerations.
Q8. A social media platform must decide whether to remove content that is
technically legal but widely considered harmful misinformation. Using virtue ethics,
the platform should consider:
A. What action maximizes quarterly advertising revenue
B. What a virtuous organization would do, considering honesty, responsibility, and
care for community welfare
C. Whether the content generates the most user engagement
D. What action requires the least engineering effort
Correct Answer: B. What a virtuous organization would do, considering honesty,
responsibility, and care for community welfare [CORRECT] Rationale: Virtue
ethics asks what a person or organization of good character would do, emphasizing
