Improving the Ethical Guidelines

• Activity Number: 459
• Type: Topic Contributed
• Date/Time: Wednesday, August 3, 2011 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: Committee on Professional Ethics
• Author(s): John S. Gardenier*+ and Ron Wasserstein*+ and Peter B. Imrey*+ and Douglas A. Samuelson*+
• Companies: Independent Science/Statistical Ethicist and American Statistical Association and Cleveland Clinic and Case Western Reserve University and InfoLogix, Inc.
• Keywords: Statistical Ethics ; Ethical Guidelines ; ASA Members

Abstract

The 1999 Ethical Guidelines for Statistical Practice document was intended to receive a major rewrite every ten years or so. The revision process is now getting underway. Although the Committee on Professional Ethics was then and is now responsible for producing the final document, the contents reflect extensive input from the ASA members in general. Notably, about 100 people attended a Panel Discussion of the Guidelines at the 1998 JSM in Dallas. That meeting was crucially important in determining the contents that emerged one year later. This proposed panel has similar intent. Panelists will describe and discuss their preliminary thoughts on where the Guidelines might go next. They will also seek input from the audience on their experiences with statistical ethics, their reactions to the panelists' comments, and their recommendations for the scope and the conceptual content of the next