Committee on Professional Ethics

The ASA Committee on Professional Ethics seeks input on the Ethical Guidelines for Statistical Practice, which are permanently linked here:
http://www.amstat.org/ASA/Your-Career/Ethical-Guidelines-for-Statistical-Practice.aspx

If you would like to contribute a recommendation for revision to the Guidelines, or for a comment for the linked discussion, we have created discussion threads for each of the Guidelines' individual principles. Please comment on the principle(s) most directly related to your suggestion(s).

Your suggestions should be as specific and complete as possible so that the Committee or its designated Working Group can review and consider your suggestions and input. All suggestions received through these discussion threads will be considered by the Committee.

The ethical statistician supports valid inferences, transparency, and good science in general, keeping the interests of the public, funder, client, or customer in mind (as well as professional colleagues, patients, the public, and the scientific community). 
The ethical statistician:

1. To the extent possible, presents a client or employer with choices among valid alternative statistical approaches that may vary in scope, cost, or precision.
2. Strives to explain any expected adverse consequences of failure to follow through on an agreed-upon sampling or analytic plan.
3. Applies statistical sampling and analysis procedures scientifically, without predetermining the outcome.
4. Strives to make new statistical knowledge widely available to provide benefits to society at large and beyond his/her own scope of applications.
5. Understands and conforms to confidentiality requirements of data collection, release, and dissemination and any restrictions on its use established by the data provider (to the extent legally required), and protects use and disclosure of data accordingly. Guards privileged information of the employer, client, or funder.