A user's guide to a short course on professional ethics and the work of a national statistical office

Issue title: Official Statistics and Ethics

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Seltzer, William

Affiliations: Fordham University. E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: The paper provides a guide to a short course on ethics in the work of a national statistical office. This course was first presented at the ISI session in Durban, South Africa in 2009 as one part of a three-part short course. Subsequently it was converted into a stand alone course and the related PowerPoint presentation was posted to {https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/margo/ www/govstat/integrity.htm}. This guide provides information on the structure and content of the course, discusses opportunities for its local adaptation, provides notes to the presenter covering (1) the course's duration, (2) the number of participants and organization of the room where the course is given, (3) the language of instruction, (4) further guidance on local adaptations, the desired experience and qualifications of (5) the course presenter, and (6) the course participants. A separate section of this guide offers advice on using the PowerPoint presentation in a self-study program, including guidance on using the list of readings provided. The guide concludes with a brief section arguing the importance ethics training by national statistical offices.

Keywords: Ethical norms, ethics training, statistical integrity, respondent harm, safeguards

DOI: 10.3233/SJI-2011-0724

Journal: Statistical Journal of the IAOS, vol. 27, no. 1-2, pp. 87-93, 2011