If the Guidelines fail to address the issue of a moral environment for the statistical practitioner to work in, then an essential component will have been left out. Others in the audience also noted that senior statisticians have a responsibility to support more junior statisticians in resisting inappropriate pressures of expediency or lack of ethics. Employing Statistical Practitioners, such as Employers, Attorneys, or other Clients. Recognize that statistics is based in objective science. Results of valid statistical studies may turn out to be contrary to the expectations or desires of those commissioning the study or to those of the statistical practitioner.
Valid results can only result from competent work in a moral environment.
Pressure on a statistical practitioner to deviate from the Guidelines above is likely to damage both the validity of study results and the professional credibility of the practitioner. Statistical practitioners and others have a social responsibility to support sound statistical analysis and to expose incompetent or corrupt statistical practice. In cases of conflict, practitioners and those employing them are encouraged to resolve issues of ethical practice privately if possible. If private resolution is not possible, recognize that statistical practitioners have an ethical obligation to expose incompetent or corrupt practice before it can cause avoidable harm to research subjects or to society at large. Within organizations and within professions using statistical methods generally, statistical practitioners who have greater prestige, power, or status have a responsibility to protect the professional freedom and responsibility of more subordinate statistical practitioners to comply with these Guidelines.