The following article is the second draft of the revised ASA Ethics Guidelines.  You are invited to read it and join the
discussion on it.
 

Revised Draft for General Comments, July 31, 1998

Statisticians and other professionals are urged to give the following draft the widest possible distribution. While the finished product will represent the professional ethics policy of the American Statistical Association, the contents should reflect principles that will be effective as well for professional users of statistical methods in other disciplines and locations. Because of that goal, we invite comments from all statistical practitioners regardless of their discipline or location and from others who may have interests in this material, such as journal editors. Please reproduce and forward this material freely, but only with complete text. Please respond as soon as possible, but not later than October 15, 1998:

Direct post to the ethics web site: http://www.tcnj.edu/~asaethic
Email to Ethics Committee Chair, Dr. John Gardenier at drgarden@erols.com
Fax to Dr. Gardenier at (301) 436-3705
Postal Mail to: Ethics, American Statistical Association, 1429 Duke St., Alexandria, VA 22314-3415 USA

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A. Purpose

The ASA Ethical Guidelines for Statistical Practice are intended to help statistical practitioners make and communicate ethical decisions. All professional users of statistical methods should urge clients, employers, researchers, policy makers, journalists, and the public to expect statistical practice to be in accordance with these guidelines and to object when that is not the case. Students learning how to apply statistical theory to problems should be encouraged to follow these guidelines whether or not their target professional specialty will be "statistician."
 

B. Statistics and Society

The professional conduct of statistical analyses is essential to many aspects of society. The use of statistics in medical diagnoses and biomedical research may affect whether individuals live or die, whether their health is protected or jeopardized, and whether medical science advances or gets sidetracked. Life, death, and health, as well as efficiency, may be at stake in statistical analyses of transportation, occupational, or environmental safety. Early detection and control of new or recurrent infectious diseases depends on sound epidemiological statistics. Mental and social health may be at stake in psychological and sociological applications of statistical analysis.

Effective functioning of the economy depends on the availability of reliable, timely, and properly interpreted econometric data. The profitability of individual firms depends in part on their quality control and their market research, both of which should rely on statistical methods. Agricultural productivity benefits greatly from statistical applications to research and to output reporting. Governmental policy decisions regarding public health, criminal justice, social equity, education, the environment, siting critical facilities, and other matters depend in part on sound statistics.

Scientific and engineering research in all disciplines require careful design and analysis of experiments and observations. To the extent that uncertainty and measurement error are involved - that is, in most research - experimental design and analysis are crucially dependent on statistical methods. Even in theory, much of science and engineering inherently involves statistical variability.
 

C. Shared Values

Because of the dependence of society on sound statistical practice, all statistical practitioners have social obligations to perform their work in a professional, competent, and ethical manner. This document is directed to those whose primary occupation is statistics. Still, the principles expressed here should also guide the statistical work of professionals in all other disciplines which use statistical methods. All statistical practitioners are obliged to conduct their professional activities with responsible attention to:

1. The social value of one's work and the consequences of how well or poorly it is performed.

2. The need to avoid slanting statistical work toward predetermined outcomes. (It is acceptable to advocate a position; it is not acceptable to misapply statistical methods in doing so.)

3. Statistics as a science. (As in all science, understanding evolves. Statisticians have a body of established knowledge, but also many open issues which deserve frank discussion.)

4. Maintaining and upgrading competence in one's work.
 

In addition, good professional citizenship encourages:

5. Collegiality and civility with fellow professionals.

6. Support for improved public understanding of and respect for statistics.

7. Support for sound statistical practice, especially when it is unfairly criticized.

8. Exposure of dishonest or incompetent uses of statistics.

9. Service to the profession as a statistical editor, reviewer, or association official.

10. Preservation of data archives.

A. Professionalism

1. Use data selection processes that are consistent with transparent treatment of the issues being studied.

2. Use only statistical methodology suitable to the data and to valid results.

3. Strive for valid practical significance, not just statistical significance.

4. Recognize that automated statistical computation alone does not constitute adequate statistical analysis; it is also necessary to understand the theory, the data, and the methods used in each statistical study. This goal is served best when a competent statistical practitioner is included early in the research design, preferably in the planning stage.

5. Respect and acknowledge the contributions and the intellectual property of others.

6. Disclose conflicts of interest and resolve them through: divestiture of the conflicting personal interest or recusal or withdrawal from the professional activity. Examples where conflict of interest may be problematic include grant reviews, other peer reviews, and tensions between scholarship and personal or family financial interests.

7. Provide only such expert testimony as you would be proud to have peer reviewed.
 

B. Responsibilities to Funders, Clients, Employers

1. Offer an analysis of alternative statistical approaches so the best approach can be taken.

2. Clearly state one's statistical qualifications and experience relevant to one's work.

3. Clarify the respective roles of different participants in studies to be undertaken.

4. Explain any expected adverse consequences of failure to follow through on an agreed sampling or analytic plan.

5. Apply statistical sampling and analysis procedures objectively, without regard for outcome.

6. Keep all statistical methods in the public domain; they are not proprietary, although specific implementations of them may be proprietary. (Not applicable where employment law dictates that new methods derived by employees are the intellectual property of the employer.)

7. Guard privileged information of the employer/client/funder.

8. Fulfill all commitments.

9. Accept full responsibility for one's professional performance.
 

C. Statistical Reporting Responsibilities

1. Maintain personal responsibility for all work bearing one's name; avoid undertaking work or co-authoring publications for which one would not want to acknowledge responsibility.

2. Report statistical and substantive assumptions made in the study.

3. In co-authored publications, clearly identify the responsibility(ies) for statistical work which affects interpretation of the results and conclusions.

4. The ethically preferred rule for authorship order in statistical publications is by degree of intellectual contribution to the study and to the material to be published, to the extent such ordering can feasibly be determined. When some other rule of authorship order is used in a statistical publication, the rule used should be disclosed in a footnote or endnote. (Where authorship order by contribution is assumed by those making decisions about hiring, promotion, or tenure, for example, failure to disclose an alternative rule may improperly damage careers.)

5. Account for all data considered in a study and explain the sample(s) actually used.

6. Report the sources and assessed adequacy of the data.

7. Report the data cleaning and screening procedures used, including any imputation.

8. Report the analytic methodology and its relation to the assumptions.

9. When reporting analyses of volunteer data or other data not representative of a defined population, include appropriate disclaimers.

10. Report the limits of statistical inference of the study and possible sources of error, both random and systematic.

11. Share (non-proprietary) data used in published studies to aid peer review and replication.

12. As appropriate, publicly correct any errors discovered after publication.

13. Write with consideration of the intended audience. (For the general public, convey the scope, relevance, and conclusions of a study without technical distractions. For the professional literature, strive to answer the questions likely to occur to your peers.)
 

D. Responsibilities to Research Subjects

1. Know and adhere to appropriate guidelines for human subjects protection.

2. Avoid excessive risk or imposition on the time and privacy of research subjects.

3. Protect the privacy and confidentiality of research subjects and the data they provide.

4. Obtain informed consent and fulfill any commitments made in obtaining it.

5. Avoid or minimize the use of deception. Where it is necessary, as in some psychological and sociological research, encourage independent ethical review and monitoring of the research.

6. Know and adhere to appropriate guidelines for protecting special populations, such as prisoners and mentally impaired individuals, in research involving such people.  The applicable categories and appropriate guidelines may be defined by regulations or by ethical review boards.

7. Know and adhere to appropriate animal welfare guidelines in research involving animals.
 

E. Responsibilities to Research Team Colleagues

1. Inform colleagues of other disciplines about relevant aspects of statistical ethics.

2. Promote effective and efficient use of statistics by the research team.

3. Respect the ethical obligations of members of other disciplines as well as one's own.

4. Assure professional quality reporting of the statistical design and analysis.

5. Avoid compromising statistical validity for expediency.
 

F. Responsibilities to Other Statisticians or Statistical Practitioners

1. Promote review of one's work by sharing data and methods adequately.

2. Be willing to help strengthen the work of others through appropriate peer review. When doing so, complete the review promptly and well.

3. Assess methods, not individuals.

4. Respect differences of opinion.

5. Make decisions regarding statistical practitioners' hiring, firing, promotion, work assignments, publications and presentations, candidacy for offices and awards, and other professional matters on the basis of the professional qualifications and contributions of the individual. It is the policy of the American Statistical Association to deplore harassment of or discrimination against statistical practitioners on professionally irrelevant bases such as: Race, Color, Ethnicity, Sex, Sexual Orientation, National Origin, Age, Religion, or any Disability.
 

G. Responsibilities Regarding Allegations of Misconduct

1. Avoid condoning or appearing to condone incompetent or unethical conduct of statistical studies in one's working environment.

2. Recognize that differences of opinion and honest error do not constitute misconduct; they may warrant discussion but not accusation.

3. If involved in a misconduct investigation, know and follow prescribed procedures; maintain confidentiality.

4. Following a misconduct investigation, support efforts of the accused, the witnesses, and whistleblowers to resume their careers in as normal a manner as possible.

5. Do not condone retaliation against, or blackballing of, responsible whistleblowers.
 

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Sources: This draft is based on the 1989 ASA Ethical Guidelines for Statistical Practice, the 1985 Declaration on Professional Ethics of the International Statistics Institute, W. E. Deming's personal ethics code (1972); formal resolutions of the ASA Board of Directors; the 1993 Code of Ethics of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM); and various documents about ethics in science or research generally, including the 1995 report of the DHHS Commission on Research Integrity. Comments from Committee members, from other statisticians and ethicists who reviewed earlier drafts, and from survey responses regarding a 1994 ASA Workshop on Ethical Issues in Statistical Expert Testimony, and comments on the first public draft which were received by July 15, 1998 have all been considered in arriving at this revised public draft.

American Statistical Association Committee on Professional Ethics members (1998):

John C. Bailar, Paula H. Diehr, Susan S. Ellenberg, John S. Gardenier (Chair),
Lilliam Kingsbury, David M. Levy, Richard E. Potthoff, Jerome Sacks, Chamont W. Wang

ASA Executive Director, Ray A. Waller; ASA Staff Liaison, Derek Lawlor