STATISTICS IN SUMMARY
Chapter Specifics
• Data ethics begin with some principles that go beyond just being honest. Studies with human subjects must be screened in advance by an institutional review board.
• All subjects must give their informed consent before taking part.
• All information about individual subjects must be kept confidential.
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The production and use of data to make decisions, like all human endeavors, raise ethical questions. In real-world applications of statistics, these must be addressed as part of the process of reasoning from data to a conclusion. The principles discussed in this chapter are a good start in addressing these questions, but many ethical debates remain, especially in the area of experiments with humans. Many of the debates concern the right balance between the welfare of the subjects and the future benefits of the experiment. Remember that randomized comparative experiments can answer questions that can’t be answered without them. Also remember that “the interests of the subject must always prevail over the interests of science and society.”
CASE STUDY EVALUATED Use what you have learned in this chapter to evaluate the Case Study that opened the chapter. In particular, do the following.
1. Based on the principles discussed in this chapter, would you consider the experiment to be ethical? Explain.
2. Federal regulations say that “minimal risk” means that the risks are no greater than “those ordinarily encountered in daily life or during the performance of routine physical or psychological examinations or tests.” Do you think this study qualifies as “minimal risk”? Explain.
Online Resources
• The StatBoards video Informed Consent and Psychological Experimentation discusses a real example involving issues of informed consent.