Ethics in Quantitative Professional Practice

Ethical Issues and Guidelines for Conducting Data Analysis in Psychological Research

“…An APA task force, convened to develop recommendations for the conduct of appropriate statistical analyses, offered the following recommendation: "Do not report statistics found on a printout without understanding how they are computed or what they mean" (Wilkinson & Task Force on Statistical Inference, 1999, p 596). Authors of chapters in the Handbook of Ethics in Quantitative Methodology similarly suggested that anyone conducting data analysis should know what pitfalls of statistical techniques to avoid and understand assumptions of statistical techniques well enough to know when they can or cannot be violated (Gardenier, 2011;Hubert & Wainer, 2011). Graham (2001) wrote that psychologists should "recognize the limits of your knowledge .…”

“…; p. 9). Gardenier (2011) suggested that an individual's morals may not be enough to prevent misconduct if the individual is practicing in an environment that does not promote professionalism and ethical conduct. For example, consider a situation where a researcher agrees to collaborate on a project and discovers that the principal investigator (PI) is engaging in some unethical data analytic techniques.…”

Research on Chewing Gum: Questions of Ethics

“…In fact, science is inherently dependent on ethics but subject to corruption (Gardenier, 2011). And only "the process of critically examining past history will hopefully prompt a greater effort to curb potential abuse" (Bekier, 2010).…”