ABSTRACT
Work in data analytics involves expert knowledge, understanding, and skill. The term professional ethics describes the special responsibilities not to take unfair advantage of that trust. This involves more than being thoughtful and using common sense; there are specific professional standards that should guide your actions. The single best-selling book with “statistics” in the title is How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff. Common sense is a good starting point for evaluating the ethics of a situation. Tell the truth. Don’t steal. Don’t harm innocent people. But professional ethics also require an informed assessment. A dramatic illustration of this comes from legal ethics: a situation where the lawyers for an accused murderer found the bodies of two victims whose deaths were unknown to authorities and to the victims’ families.
