The Missing Manual on Data Ethics: What does Ethical Decision-Making Look Like?

You’ve read the articles, got the books, and are fired up on the ethical bandwagon. Before we start go too far down the rabbit hole, let’s recap:

1. Morals are how we decide for ourselves, laws govern society, and ethics are how we make decisions for others.
2. Ethics create speed bumps for decision-making. We defer to our morals for default decision-making.
3. The best way to be ethical is to organize professionally and create Standards of Practice.
4. Too often, ethics force us to be brave in a situation where it’s rarely rewarded.

So, how do we put ethics to work?

Demystifying Decision-Making

The key to practicing ethics is to understand decision-making.  We make choices daily for ourselves.  The traditional model might look something like this: we weigh the pros and and cons and decide if it’s worth it. Today, we decide reading this blog is more good than bad.

Ideally, we have some nuance in our decision-making process.  We recognize there’s downsides to something, but overall, it’s worth it.  For complicated choices, some people might do checklists.  Others might literally score and weight items.  We have several tools we can use, including coins.  This model works well when we only have to consider ourselves.

When we make other decisions, such as moving the entire family, we might have more people involved in making the call.  Then, we really put those tools to work.  Other times, we brainstorm solutions and someone gets a final say (the breadwinner, the boss, me…).

With this model, we make 2 decisions:

1. How we’re going to make the decision (call it a framework if you want to be fancy)
2. The decision itself.

We may not always feel great about it, but we’ve made a choice.  When we bring ethics into the the conversation, it changes drastically.  We recognize certain truths come into play.

We’re doing something on behalf of someone else.

The scariest decisions are the ones we make for others.  If you’ve ever made end-of-life choices for a loved one, you get this acutely.  If you’re parent, you can relate to the words, “it’s in your best interest.”  When we have to look abstractly at the outlook for others, we consider things like safety, what that person would want, and if it’s worth it.  These are values that get labelled in Codes of Ethics as sanctity of life, autonomy, and beneficence.  We recognize our power within the limits of another’s rights.

We have knowledge they don’t have, and are likely not to get in time for this choice.

As we face this decision, we also realize we see more of the playing field than those involved.  If we’re parents, we see the longer game and goals.  If someone is ill or incapacitated and we’re acting as power of attorney, we’re closest to this person and know them best.  When it comes to our role as professionals, we know the industry, goals, techniques, benefits, and ramifications.  Doctors can navigate the choices around surgery far easier than I can.  As an analyst, I understand how data is collected, stored, and used for various purposes with an extremely clear mental picture.  Not everyone can.  In fact, most can’t.

The results will have long-term effects on this person and likely others as well.

These decisions on others rarely play out in a vacuum.  They, in turn, go on to have further influence.  If I’m parenting, that child interacts with others.  The choices I make flow through that child to other kids, who all have families that react as well.  If I decide to end life support for a loved one, that decision encompasses family, friends, and health workers, not just the person directly.  When I make decisions about data, it has a downstream effect I may or may not even realize.  People can lose jobs.  Others may be injured if I set a target too high for performance.  My decisions have consequences far beyond me and its effects far outlast my time spent.

So, how do I make ethical decisions?

The model for professionals changes in contrast to individuals.  A professional has to look at the needs of others first.  This is contrary to our default moral-driven mode, which is why we need ethics.  Ethics help us put others above ourselves.

As professionals, we push ourselves back.  We’re still in the picture and recognize we have a role to play, but we strive to mitigate our effects on the decision.  We view our role in terms of supporting and conflicting.

This role helps us set boundaries. As we plot the decisions of others, we can see where we’re in alignment and where we disagree. When we disagree, it’s important to understand the potential risks of denying (“I think you’re making a bad choice”) to potentially dismissing (“you’re making up the negative aspects of this”). The key is to understand and continuously check boundaries and conduct.

We recognize when our morals conflict with the situation and take action as necessary. Ethical review tools help us find where the line is to ensure we’re not acting out of bounds. We may use these strategies to add distance, increase empathy, or recuse ourselves as needed. This protects us and others.

When we work with data, we have to focus on the value and plot the responses of others. We research to find objections others have and tie them to certain value sets. Pay attention to your gut responses, as disagreement risks denying or dismissing the points made.

Data makes this much harder and far more abstract. We may take the value or decision and plot it out. Here I’ve done a sample on facial recognition. You can see where some most of my opinions conflict with the sell. While others say it’s easier with less paper, I find these to be values I conflict with. You can also see differing options around privacy. You can also see where I staunchly support notifications, but where others in my example slightly disagree. We agree there’s bias in training and that there’s merits to having an opt in model.

Take it with you

Try this with a group around an ethical decision. If it helps, try it on a dry erase board with sticky notes. You’ll learn a lot, especially the more diverse your group is.

Want to learn more? Feel free to connect or comment down below.