Promoting the Independence and Integrity of Statistics around the World

Confronted with serious questions the societies of our time need worthy information to inform related decisions. To overcome crises, to achieve global agendas as the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris climate objectives, statistical evidence must be fit for purpose.

The prerequisite for this is an efficient as well as ethically sound use of the ever growing and diversified data sources and the application of methods of data science. For statistics to fulfil their goal of serving the common good and providing a language in public discourse through which conflicting issues can be objectified, they must be trustworthy, of high quality and contain value for the issues at hand. For this to succeed, a data culture is needed in which value creation by the statistics producers and appreciation by their users mutually reinforce each other in a positive way. This is where the ISI Ethical Declaration and the UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics come in: They offer guidance on the responsible, professional conduct of individual statisticians and on the principles of good governance of statistical institutions by governments. Of course, this only addresses one side of the data culture, namely that of the producers. For statisticians to be able to do their work along professionally recognised best practices and without undue (political) interference, the (political) framework conditions must be right. Independence and integrity are the leitmotifs that mark the critical conditions for this. The question of how the independence and integrity of statistics can be guaranteed is one with rising attention by many actors in society and should benefit from a proper political weight. In a situation where 'alternative facts' tend to be considered by many as equal to solid and professional statistical facts, we can witness that the door is wide open for manipulation of any kind.

When asking about the needs and possibilities to improve the current situation in different regions and countries, it seems advisable to take a comprehensive approach starting from the producer side (promotion of statistical ethics and governance; improvement of statistical education in this respect) as well as from the political framework conditions (collecting sound evidence on integrity; monitoring the political situation; representing and protecting the interests of statisticians and statistical institutions).

The session will follow on from the discussion in ISI WSC 2021 (IPS 53) and address the question of how to organise quantification and monitoring of statistical independence and integrity from a global perspective. Ways and means to promote knowledge of professional ethics will be discussed, not least with a focus on countries of the Global South and on improving statistical education.

In this debate, both representatives of institutional statistics and of the statistical associations and academia should contribute to provide a wide range of inputs. It will have to be discussed how complementarity can be achieved, using the possibilities (and respecting the limitations) of international official statistics on the one hand, and those of NGOs to protect and advocate for good statistics on the other.

Organiser: PROF. DR. Walter J. Radermacher 

Chair: Dr Silke Stapel-Weber

Panellist: Ayse Bilgin (IASE Pres, ISI ABE)

Panellist: Oliver Chinganya (UNECA, ISI VPres)

Panellist: Albina Chuwa (NBS Tanzania Statistician General, ISI ABE)

Panellist: Hermann Habermann (American Statistical Association)

Panellist:  Francesca Perucci (UN Statistical Division)

Panellist:  Walter J. Radermacher (FENStatS Chair, ISI ABE Chair)