Abstract: The ethics underlying official statistics are best articulated in
the twelve Principles of Official Statistics adopted by the United Nations
Statistics Commission in 1994. While national statistics offices endeavour to
adhere to these principles, they face different challenges in different
countries. New Zealand has a small population (four million) of whom a high
proportion (just under 15%) identify as of Maori (indigenous) ethnicity. Our
ethical issues reflect our specific circumstances but it is likely that some
other countries may face similar challenges. Three major sorts of challenges
have arisen in New Zealand in the last decade: direct challenges to the
principles of official statistics (first release and survey respondent
confidentiality): distinguishing between business and personal information (for
the self-employed with no employees; and when personal opinions are requested
in business surveys) and the ethics of over-sampling, or requesting particular
information, from some sections of the population (for example, Maori).
Specific examples, together with the New Zealand response, are given for each
of these challenges.
Keywords: Ethics of official statistics, first release practices, respondent confidentiality, over-sampling
