Codes of Ethics

Learning goals

After completing this assignment, students should be able to:

  • Categorize ethical principles
  • Critique codes of ethics

Content

  • Read (mandatory):
    • Washington and Kuo (2020)
    • Sections 2.2–2.4 of Colando and Hardin (2024)

In-class activity

  • What were the three themes identified by Washington and Kuo (2020)?
  • What were the three main branches of ethics defined by Colando and Hardin (2024)?
  • Recall the codes of ethics that you read for last time. Organize a selection of specific principles according to the themes identified by Washington and Kuo (2020).

Assignment

Respond to the following prompts in writing.

  • In one paragraph, summarize the basic argument that Washington and Kuo make. What shortcomings to they see in codes of data ethics?

References

Colando, Sara, and Johanna Hardin. 2024. “Philosophy Within Data Science Ethics Courses.” Journal of Statistics and Data Science Education, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/26939169.2024.2394542.
Washington, Anne L, and Rachel Kuo. 2020. “Whose Side Are Ethics Codes on? Power, Responsibility and the Social Good.” In Proceedings of the 2020 Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency, 230–40. https://doi.org/10.1145/3351095.3372844.