How do ASA Ethical Guidelines Support U.S. Guidelines for Official Statistics?

Abstract

In 2022, the American Statistical Association revised its Ethical Guidelines for Statistical Practice. Originally issued in 1982, these Guidelines describe responsibilities of the 'ethical statistical practitioner' to their profession, to their research subjects, as well as to their community of practice. These guidelines are intended as a framework to assist decision-making by statisticians working across academic, research, and government environments. For the first time, the 2022 Guidelines describe the ethical obligations of organizations and institutions that use statistical practice. This paper examines alignment between the ASA Ethical Guidelines and other long-established normative guidelines for US official statistics: the OMB Statistical Policy Directives 1, 2, and 2a NASEM Principles and Practices, and the OMB Data Ethics Tenets. Our analyses ask how the recently updated ASA Ethical Guidelines can support these guidelines for federal statistics and data science. The analysis uses a form of qualitative content analysis, the alignment model, to identify patterns of alignment, and potential for tensions, within and across guidelines. The paper concludes with recommendations to policy makers when using ethical guidance to establish parameters for policy change and the administrative and technical controls that necessarily follow.