Ethics in Statistics
Ethical Issues in Business Statistics
Statistical knowledge has been under gradual growth since the beginning of 20th century. This growth has subsequently advanced into broad dimensions of data handling and analysis, resulting into a fully-fledged scientific discipline. Statistics is a science that serves within the framework of construction, and theoretical mathematical applications in order to analyze a set of numerical data hence obtaining credible knowledge (Kemptborne, 1979). Statisticians, thereby, are lissome individuals whose responsibility is to solve data related problems, usually the interdisciplinary and further into formerly uncharted areas. Their ability in creativity during the building of interdisciplinary bridges may be risky and undertaking, especially when the served parties or clients are not conversant with the statistical processes. As a result, the statisticians face the ethical obligations since they have to make sense, out raw data and develop a proper means of interpretation of such data in order to come up with information, which is relevant to the concerned parties.
For accountability and education continuity to ensure the integrity and advancement of their art, statisticians set their identifiable professional standards. To uphold their professional values, sense of accountability and responsibility (Kemptborne, 1979), certification may be recommended in order to distinguish well-trained statisticians from those who may own fewer abilities and low qualifications. Such professionalisms usually arrive, accompany with an individual's ability to self-regulate via a set of established ethical code. Kemptborne (1979) elicits that an ethical code of conduct that represents the mutual moral responsibility of a given profession, must present vital guidelines towards obtaining a solution to the statistical problems. Practically, the ethical and professional goals are to eradicate the misuse of data that may result into immediate harm to the parties represented by this data, especially...
Moreover, one should confront the issues without any false hope on favorable outcomes or that a problem might simply resolve itself. As a basis for ethical inquiry, statisticians may ask themselves various ethical questions developed by philosophers: (i) Is there any duty to perform in a way that other people can recognize and follow? (ii) What are the repercussions of the action proposed, and will it benefit the majority? (iii) If my decisions towards someone else would be made to me, would I accept them? (iv) Would the final decision remain un-altered, if it were to be published at the front page of any renowned public journal?
A statistician's ultimate goal is to establish a process of dealing with ethical issues as soon as they arise. With regards to the "non-owner use of data," such as the implementation of the research project results, clients may ask the statistician to collect and analyze data from a given source, and thereafter, report on the final outcomes. Here, the statistician's ethical fate and honesty may be under a great deal temptation since the co-authorship, rights to the data, and data ownership may be questions that appear to have no definite answers. This is because there will be no specific person involved in the course of data processing; hence, answers to such questions are highly dependent upon particular factual circumstances. The other issue that a statistical consultant may encounter during their duty performance is "the search for significance." Here, the client may possess a pre-conceived perception of which outcomes from a precise study should accomplish. It is thereby ethical for a statistician to report all results, regardless of those that favor or go against the client's expectations, although they may not have control over the results' usage (Kemptborne, 1979). Supposing the clients own powers and rights to alter any statistical…
