Discussion Post: Introduction and Statistical Ethics
In the textbook, §1.8 discusses "Ethical Guidelines for Statistical Practice" and promotes the idea that we should strive to be ethical in all that we do.
Which of these scenarios are ethical and which are not? Why?
• HR had to give five identical presentations this week to 5 different departments in the company. During a presentation to the marketing department, the air conditioning in the building broke. The participants in the seminar were getting more and more uncomfortable. At the end of every presentation, there was a survey of the effectiveness of the presentation, and the marketing department's surveys were less favorable than those in the other departments. The presenter opted not to include those numbers in the overall results from the five presentations.
• Jill sold 5 houses last month valued at the following dollar amounts (in thousands): 40, 200, 210, 215,225. When her manager asked her the average selling price, Jill reported the median selling price instead of the mean.
• A survey was designed with the following categories of "strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree." One of the prompts was "I believe that my manager is the cause of low morale in our department because he/she has not gotten to know me on a personal level."
• The accountant of a publicly traded company published results for the shareholders to see of the company's financial statement. Later, it was discovered that numbers sent to him from a certain department were incorrect. Unfortunately, based on the initial report, Jason bought stock in the company.
How can each of these scenarios be improved, and what do they have to do with using statistics and data in an ethical manner?
The response must include a reference list. Using Times New Roman 12 pnt font, double-space, one-inch margins, and APA style of writing and citations.