scholarly journals Concordance of professional ethical practice standards for the domain of Data Science: A white paper

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rochelle E. Tractenberg
Keyword(s):  
Intelligent Systems ◽  
Data Science ◽  
Code Of Ethics ◽  
White Paper ◽  
American Statistical Association ◽  
Ethical Practice ◽  
Coherent Integration ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Ethical Guidance ◽  
Practice Standards

Data science is a discipline that has emerged at the intersection of computing and statistics – two disciplines with long standing guidance for ethical practice that feature professional integrity and responsibility. The 2018 National Academies of Science Report on Envisioning the Data Science Discipline recommends that “The data science community should adopt a code of ethics”, but due to its recency and to the diversity of paths into data science as a discipline, there is no real “community” that can do or organize this adoption. To support this recommendation, this white paper is an effort to document concordance across professional association practice standards, intended to support the ethical practice of data science by appealing to the consensus of these professional organizations on what constitutes ethical practice. The American Statistical Association (ASA) and the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) recently revised their professional ethical practice standards in 2018. Both sets of guidance represent the perspectives of experienced professionals in their respective domains, but both organizations explicitly state that the guidelines apply to – should be utilized by – all who employ the domain in their work, irrespective of job title or training/professional preparation. Given that both statistics andcomputing are essential foundations for data science, their ethical guidance should therefore be a starting point for the community as it contemplates what “ethical data science” looks like.The work of analyzing concordance in ethical guidance begins with a qualitative examination of the overlap (similarly worded principles), alignment (thematically similar principles), and gaps (dissimilar principles) that exist between existing sets of standards. To that end, the ethical practice guidance has been thematically analyzed from the standards outlined by the ASA, ACM, the International Statistics Institute, Royal Statistical Society, and the Ethics in Action guidance drafted by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Initiative on Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems. This synthesis is intended to capture similarities and differences in relevant practical guidelines, integrating professional organizational perspectives on what constitutes ethical practice in data science to support and strengthen the domain. Ultimately, guidelines for ethical data science that reflect the concordance of cognate disciplines can ensure coherent integration of the features of ethical practice into training of data scientists - for both the practitioner and those who use data science, or its outputs, in their work.

scholarly journals Strengthening the practice and profession of statistics and data science using ethical guidelines

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rochelle E. Tractenberg
Keyword(s):  
Professional Identity ◽  
Professional Practice ◽  
Practice Guidelines ◽  
Data Science ◽  
Professional Associations ◽  
American Statistical Association ◽  
Ethical Practice ◽  
Ethical Guidelines ◽  
Professional Career ◽  
Data Scientist

This article builds on the concept of disciplinary and professional stewardship, to discuss the ethical practice guidelines from two professional associations and a method that you can learn to use in order to implement those guidelines throughout a professional career. The steward is an individual who practices in a field in a manner that invites and warrants the trust of the public, other practitioners, and employers to uphold and maintain the integrity of that field. It is important to your sense of professional identity - and also your profession - to cultivate a sense of stewardship; and one of the foundational aspects of stewardly behavior is to understand professional practice guidelines and the types of behaviors that are expected by practitioners in a given field. Therefore, this article presents two sets of guidelines that can support professionalism, ethical practice, and the development of a coherent professional identity for the statistician and data scientist. The American Statistical Association (ASA) and the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) are large professional organizations with international membership. An overall objective of each of these organizations is to promote excellence in and by their members and all those who practice in their respective – sometimes shared/joint – domains. It can be helpful to consider the field of ‘statistics and data science’ to be a hybrid of, or co-dependent on, these two fields, which is one reason why the two organizations are presented together. Another reason is that both organizations take ethical practice very seriously, and both engaged in lengthy projects to carefully revise their respective ethical guidelines for professional practice in 2018. Not only does engagement with the guidelines support you initiating, and beginning to demonstrate, your commitment to this particular professional identity, but also exploring the ethical guidelines for professional practice (through ASA or ACM) is a first step towards documenting your commitment to stewardly work as a data scientist. Ethical reasoning, the third focus of this article, helps deepen the understanding of the guidelines and can be useful to generate evidence of stewardly development.

Transnational Ethical Guidance and the Development of the EFPA Meta-Code of Ethics

2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoff Lindsay
Keyword(s):  
National Security ◽  
Code Of Ethics ◽  
European Federation ◽  
Ethical Practice ◽  
Fitness For Purpose ◽  
Ethical Guidance ◽  
New Challenges ◽  
Unethical Practice ◽  
Corrective Actions ◽  
Professional Psychologists

Ethical practice is one of the fundamental characteristics of a profession. The development of common codes was an early aim of the European Federation of Professional Psychologists Associations (EFPPA), now the European Federation of Psychologists Associations (EFPA), which sought to develop common standards across Member Associations. This paper describes: the development of the Meta-Code of Ethics, approved in 1995; the subsequent review of its fitness for purpose, leading to the second edition in 2005; and other guidance on ethical practice, including procedures for the evaluation of alleged unethical practice and for determining corrective actions to be taken, including mediation. The success of the Meta-code is reviewed, including its contribution to current initiatives to develop universal ethical practice by psychologists, in the context of new challenges arising from developments within psychology and from changes within society, including concerns about national security.

scholarly journals Teaching and Learning about ethical practice: The case analysis

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rochelle E. Tractenberg
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Data Science ◽  
Stakeholder Analysis ◽  
American Statistical Association ◽  
Ethical Practice ◽  
Case Study Method ◽  
Ethical Guidelines ◽  
Computing Device ◽  
Do So

Statistics, biostatistics, and data science are unique disciplines/a unique discipline in the sciences: anyone with an Internet connection and computing device can utilize the methods from these disciplines –irrespective of preparation to do so. Most empirical and all experimental sciences require some form of data analysis, including qualitative methods. However, even those in degree or formal educational programs learning about statistics/biostatistics/data science do not receive training in what constitutes “ethical practice”. The American Statistical Association (ASA) maintains, and recently (2018) updated, Ethical Guidelines for Statistical Practice. Understanding and being able to utilize these Guidelines (GLs) is relevant for all applications of statistical and data science methodologies – whether for true “research” (following the scientific method) or for business or other predictive/decision-making support. Thus, students who will go on to be statisticians and non-statisticians alike need to learn about ethical statistical practice, including those who seek to apply these methods in marketing, policy, and higher education. This article describes how to employ the case study method to teach the ASA GLs, using simple vignettes and a specific tool called a “stakeholder analysis template”. The template is introduced as a method for understanding the harms and benefits, as well as the stakeholders, in each of a series of tasks common to the collection, analysis/manipulation, and drawing of inferences or conclusions based on data in any shape or size. The ASA Ethical Guidelines are discussed with respect to their potential to guide data collection and munging (two specific tasks), with three learning objectives: 1. describe how different individuals (“stakeholders”) may be affected by decisions and actions; 2. enumerate harms and benefits that are most clearly relevant for each stakeholder with respect to the activity; and 3. identify which ASA GL Principles (and/or specific elements) seem most relevant to this activity. The stakeholder analysis template is intended to facilitate teaching and learning – and the ultimate utility – of the ASA Ethical Guidelines for Statistical Practice.

Towards an Archival Critique: Opening Possibilities for Addressing Neoliberalism in the Archival Field

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marika Cifor ◽  
Jamie A. Lee
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Archival Studies ◽  
Ethical Practice ◽  
Political Practice ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Library And Information Studies ◽  
Information Studies ◽  
Contemporary Life

Neoliberalism, as economic doctrine, as political practice, and even as a "governing rationality" of contemporary life and work, has been encroaching on the library and information studies (LIS) field for decades. The shift towards a conscious grappling with social justice and human rights debates and concerns in archival studies scholarship and practice since the 1990s opens the possibility for addressing neoliberalism and its elusive presence. Despite its far-reaching influence, neoliberalism has yet to be substantively addressed in archival discourse. In this article, we propose a set of questions for archival practitioners and scholars to reflect on and consider through their own hands-on practices, research, and productions with records, records creators, and distinct archival communities in order to develop an ongoing archival critique. The goal of this critique is to move towards "an ethical practice of community, as an important mode of participation." This article marks a starting point for critically engaging the archival studies discipline along with the LIS field more broadly by interrogating the discursive and material evidences and implications of neoliberalism.

scholarly journals Fifty years of digital literacy studies: A meta-research for interdisciplinary and conceptual convergence

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
María-Cristina Martínez-Bravo ◽  
Charo Sádaba-Chalezquer ◽  
Javier Serrano-Puche
Keyword(s):  
Digital Literacy ◽  
Data Science ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Literacy Studies ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Systematized Review ◽  
Key Terms ◽  
Different Levels ◽  
Central Term ◽  
Previous Existence

The following research has as its starting point the previous existence of different approaches to the study of digital literacy, which reflect a specialisation by area of study as well as connections and complementarity between them. The paper analyses research from the last 50 years through 11 key terms associated with the study of this subject. The article seeks to understand the contribution of each term for an integrated conceptualisation of digital literacy. From the data science approach, the methodology used is based on a systematized review of the literature and a network analysis using Gephi. The study analyses 16,753 articles from WoS and 5,809 from Scopus, between the period of 1968 to 2017. The results present the input to each key term studied as a map of keywords and a conceptual framework in different levels of analysis; in these, we show digital literacy as a central term that connects and integrates the others, and we define it as a process that integrates all the perspectives. The conclusions emphasise the comprehensive sense of digital literacy and its social condition, as well as the transversality to human life. This research aims to understand the relationships that exist between the different areas and contribute to the debate from a meta-theoretical level, validating meta-research for this interdisciplinary purpose.

Data Science and Innovations for Intelligent Systems

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kavita Taneja ◽  
Harmunish Taneja ◽  
Kuldeep Kumar ◽  
Arvind Selwal ◽  
Eng Lieh Ouh
Keyword(s):  
Intelligent Systems ◽  
Data Science

scholarly journals The Preparation of Stewards with the Mastery Rubric for Stewardship: Re-Envisioning the Formation of Scholars and Practitioners

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 292
Author(s):  
Christopher M. Rios ◽  
Chris M. Golde ◽  
Rochelle E. Tractenberg
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Data Science ◽  
Doctoral Education ◽  
Work Force ◽  
Performance Level ◽  
Developmental Trajectory ◽  
Doctoral Training ◽  
Original Definition ◽  
Practice Standards ◽  
Directed Development

A steward of the discipline was originally defined as “someone who will creatively generate new knowledge, critically conserve valuable and useful ideas, and responsibly transform those understandings through writing, teaching, and application”. This construct was articulated to support and strengthen doctoral education. The purpose of this paper is to expand the construct of stewardship so that it can be applied to both scholars and non-academic practitioners, and can be initiated earlier than doctoral education. To accomplish and justify this, we describe a general developmental trajectory supporting cross-curriculum teaching for stewardship of a discipline as well as of a profession. We argue that the most important features of stewardship, comprising the public trust for the future of their discipline or profession, are obtainable by all practitioners, and are not limited to those who have completed doctoral training. The developmental trajectory is defined using the Mastery Rubric construct, which requires articulating the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) to be targeted with a curriculum; recognizable stages of performance of these KSAs; and performance level descriptors of each KSA at each stage. Concrete KSAs of stewardship that can be taught and practiced throughout the career (professional or scholarly) were derived directly from the original definition. We used the European guild structure’s stages of Novice, Apprentice, Journeyman, and Master for the trajectory, and through a consensus-based standard setting exercise, created performance level descriptors featuring development of Bloom’s taxonometric cognitive abilities (see Appendix A) for each KSA. Together, these create the Mastery Rubric for Stewardship (MR-S). The MR-S articulates how stewardly behavior can be cultivated and documented for individuals in any disciplinary curriculum, whether research-intensive (preparing “scholars”) or professional (preparing members of a profession or more generally for the work force). We qualitatively assess the validity of the MR-S by examining its applicability to, and concordance with professional practice standards in three diverse disciplinary examples: (1) History; (2) Statistics and Data Science; and (3) Neurosciences. These domains differ dramatically in terms of content and methodologies, but students in each discipline could either continue on to doctoral training and scholarship, or utilize doctoral or pre-doctoral training in other professions. The MR-S is highly aligned with the practice standards of all three of these domains, suggesting that stewardship can be meaningfully cultivated and utilized by those working in or outside of academia, supporting the initiation of stewardship prior to doctoral training and for all students, not only those who will earn PhDs or be scholars first and foremost. The MR-S can be used for curriculum development or revision in order to purposefully promote stewardship at all levels of higher education and beyond. The MR-S renders features of professional stewardship accessible to all practitioners, enabling formal and informal, as well as self-directed, development and refinement of a professional identity.

scholarly journals Planetary Health Ethics: Beyond First Principles

Challenges ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Foster ◽  
Jennifer Cole ◽  
Andrew Farlow ◽  
Ivica Petrikova
Keyword(s):  
Code Of Ethics ◽  
Global Environmental Change ◽  
Ethical Framework ◽  
Future Health ◽  
Transdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Planetary Health ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Health Community ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Operating Space

Planetary health is a transdisciplinary approach that aims to advance the understanding of the links between human-driven changes to the planet and their consequences, and to develop appropriate solutions to the challenges identified. This emerging movement has not yet agreed upon a code of ethics to underpin the rapidly expanding body of research being carried out in its name. However, a code of ethics might support the principles for planetary health set out in the Canmore Declaration of 2018. Phrases such as “Public Health 2.0”, “Human Health in an Era of Global Environmental Change”, or “A safe and just operating space for humanity” are often used in planetary health discussions, but are not always clearly defined and so far, the field lacks a strong guiding ethical framework. In this paper, we propose a starting point towards a code of ethics for planetary health that builds on the Canmore Declaration. We chose to propose 12 ethical principles in recognition of the need for a 12-Step Programme for the planet. The human race must identify and reject damaging behaviours. Evidence of the harm we are causing the planet is no longer enough and refraining from certain current practices is essential for Earth’s future health. We must motivate advocacy and calls for action. We believe a shared ethical code can act as a tool to enable and encourage that process. This paper is presented to the planetary health community as a starting point, not as a finished agenda. We welcome comments, critiques, additions and the opportunity to rework our approach accordingly.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document