It's week 8 and I'm halfway through the Merit America program! I'm starting to see myself as a data analyst and am putting a lot of effort into practicing my technical skills, creating projects and getting out there in the job market.
One thing in the back of my mind though, is understanding the role of data in everyone's lives and the responsibility an analyst takes on to do the job ethically. People's privacy needs to be protected, results need to be reported accurately and without bias. There has to be transparency and consent to share, among other things. As a data analyst, data ethics is something I'm really interested in knowing more about. On the job, I'll invariably be making
a lot of judgment calls on the correct use and application of data and I really don't want to get it wrong.
I mean, it's about more than just minimizing harm. It's the concept of "beneficence" or the practice of doing good and improving the lives of people by using data. That's what totally hooks me and what I hope to have a hand in during my career. I recently read an article by analyst Lara Fisher, headlined with the quote, “If you torture the data long enough, it will confess.” — Ronald Coase (1991 Nobel Prize in Economics). Isn't that what we all consciously or subconsciously know? It's patently obvious that data can be manipulated, visualized or edited to say whatever we want it to. So guarding trust and professional standards are key here.
Fisher goes on to say that although some organizations, like the Digital Analytics Association, lay out a code of ethics, there has been little to keep companies and analysts in check. She suggests a code of 8 ethical guidelines for analysts that break down some of the grey areas my fellow Merit learners and I are likely to encounter everyday. I've linked her article below. The guidelines are so attainable and so essential. As she says, "The hallmark of any great analyst is trust."
On that note, I have one more thing to share. This is a TikTok I came across by Rebecah Jones. During the pandemic, she was the data scientist managing the Florida Department of Health's public COVID-19 data and surveillance systems. She was pressured to skew the data to show improvement when there was none and she refused. Watch her story of professional integrity in the face of threats and violence below. She's a data science hero!
Lara Fisher's article: https://www.blastanalytics.com/blog/code-of-ethics-for-data-analysts-8-guidelines
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