Values, Ethics and What They Mean for Data Quality

With Walter Radermacher
Munich, October 12th 2022

This workshop is part of the series “Statistics for the Public Good – Infrastructure Decision Making, Research and Discourse”, which introduces participants to public statistics as a process in which the design, production and communication of information (statistics) are an integral part. As with other products (architecture, furniture, food, cars, smartphones, etc.), the aim is to optimize the design (form) in relation to the use (function) of the products (“form follows function”).

New data sources and data science methods open up substantial opportunities for research and for improving statistics. However, the integration of traditional and newer methods requires more than the merging of methodology and technology. Rather, it is also a matter of further developing the other dimensions of good information quality, namely those of infrastructure, language and values, simultaneously in an integrative manner in this sense. 

Various use cases relevant to current policy at international and national level will be used, in which the course participants will act as statistical stakeholders with distributed roles.

About the Instructor

Walter J. Radermacher is a Professor of Statistics at LMU Munich. Additionally, he serves as the Advisory Board Chair of the International Statistical Institute (ISI). His research focuses on statistics, sustainable development, governance, ethics, and data analysis. Furthermore, he has experience in public administration at national and European levels, having served as President of the Statistisches Bundesamt, Director-General of the Statistical Office, and Chief Statistician of the European Union.