This thesis is the result of an unobtrusive study of the domain of medical informatics ethics. The objects of the study are the cultural artifacts (journal articles, and textbook chapters) of the domain. Study methodologies include the triangulation of two citation analysis techniques (one qualitative and one quantitative) and one qualitative text analysis technique. Metric citation analysis is used to identify foundation authors and artifacts. Standardized content analysis or frame set coding is used in conjunction with bibliometric analysis to complete the evaluation of citation analysis component of this study.