ISI Declaration on Professional Ethics

 

Adopted: August 2009

 

Background note

The involvement of the International Statistical Institute in establishing a declaration on professional ethics has extended over the past quarter century. The Bureau of the Institute, in response to representations by members and a proposal by the Institute's Committee on Future Directions, initially established a Committee on a Code of Ethics for Statisticians in 1979, during the 42nd ISI Session in Manila.

That Committee^[1] worked to prepare a plenary meeting at the Buenos Aires Session in 1981, during which a consensus in favor of drawing up a code developed: the 'code' was prepared for acceptance by the Institute during its Centenary Celebration in 1985.

The Declaration which emerged was the result of an extensive process of drafting and redrafting, of consultation with the entire ISI membership and with the ISI's Sections, and of open meetings and written consultations which occurred between December 1981 and August 1985. The drafting of the Declaration provoked much interest and genuine debate which continued into the week before it was placed before the General Assembly of the Institute for adoption.

After due consideration and deliberation the General Assembly adopted the following resolution on 21 August 1985: 'The General Assembly of the International Statistical Institute,

·        recognizing that the aim of the Declaration on Professional Ethics for Statisticians is to document shared professional values and experience as a means of providing guidance rather than regulation,

·        adopts the Declaration as an affirmation of the membership's concern with these matters and of its resolve to promote knowledge and interest in professional ethics among statisticians worldwide;

·        determines to send the Declaration to all members of the ISI and its Sections and to disseminate it, as appropriate, within the statistical profession;

·        commends the Committee responsible for developing the Declaration for its thorough, efficient and successful work during the last five years.'

In accordance with the spirit and letter of the resolution, in August 1985, the International Statistical Institute presented its members with the ISI Declaration on Professional Ethics.

With the passage of time, the Institute found itself visiting the question of the need for an updating of the Declaration. For example, in July 2002, prior to the ISI international meetings in Berlin, a Conference on Professional Ethics was assembled to explore the issue and, in September of that year, produced a proposed, revised set of ethics, which does not seem to have gone any further. Nonetheless, the topic continued to be the focus of conversation in subsequent meetings of the Ethics Committee.

In July 2006, the Executive Committee specifically invited its standing Professional Ethics Committee^[2] to revisit the ISI Declaration and, “should the occasion arise, (propose) updates to the ISI Declaration”. Specifically, in regard to the ISI Declaration, the Committee was asked to propose, if merited, updates to the earlier Declaration and to catalogue new documents to illuminate the ethical practices of statisticians.

This the Committee has now done. After much discussion, an extensive exchange of ideas by phone, and email, writing and rewriting, a revised document was prepared for a meeting held in Paris, in March 2007, hosted by INSEE. This was followed by an open meeting at the ISI international meetings in Lisbon, in August 2007, at which the results of all these efforts were presented to the participants for their comments and reactions. That meeting led to agreement on many points, but a number of suggestions for further examination were suggested. This led to the addition of a Section on Core Values and further refinement in the content and format. This document is the result of these recent efforts.

In accordance with the spirit and letter of the original resolution, the International Statistical Institute is privileged to present to the reader this revised and updated Declaration on Professional Ethics, with the continued hope and belief that the new document will assist colleagues throughout the world in the pursuit of their professional goals and responsibilities.