The Data Science Ethos

A Structured Approach to Data Science

The Data Science Ethos operationalizes the responsibilities of data scientists - conducting outcomes-based research that is grounded in a thoughtful understanding of the human impacts and interactions of the work.

We offer practitioners structured ways of thinking about the social and ethical contexts relevant to each stage of the data science research process.

Getting Started

Learn about how to get started with the Data Science Ethos. What are the lenses and stages? How do the case studies help? How can I contribute or learn more?

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Why the Data Science Ethos?

Learn about the origins of this project, dig into the concepts, and meet the interdisciplinary team involved in its creation.

About Us

Data Science Ethos - Announcement Webinar

ADSA is please to announce the launch of the Data Science Ethos - an interactive tool that fuses the research process with ethical lenses through which to examine data science research. Learn more by attending our upcoming webinar!

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An abstracted image of an optical lens set against a teal background. The sphere is outlined in deep blue, the bottom portion of the sphere is filled in with a solid dark blue, the top is a gradient of the same teal in the background, the middle is a cat's eye shape filled in with solid yellow.

Jump to: Lenses

The lenses offer a structured approach to thinking about the ethical components at each stage of the data science lifecycle. Learn about how the lenses help contextualize the stages of data science research.

The Lenses
An abstracted image of the data science lifecycle set against a teal background. The image consists of a long, horizontal, pill-shaped figure with lines connecting it to similar figures that are only partially in view. The shapes are outlined in deep blue and are filled with gradients ranging from yellow to green to teal, left to right.

Jump To: Stages

Review the Research Lifecycle Stages - a familiar model for the data science research process. At each stage, we examine how the Lenses focus our attention on the social, human, and moral impacts and implications of research.

The Stages
An abstracted image of a cube containing a sphere. The cube is outlined in deep blue, and grades in color from yellow on the right to blue-green on the left. The sphere is medium blue in the upper right, grading to dark blue in the lower left.

Jump To: Case Studies

Put the Lenses and Stages together with real-world research projects to see how social questions interact with the work of a data scientist.

The Case Studies

Contribute a Case Study

The Data Science Ethos relies on individual contributions to provide case studies and teaching material.

To help contributors develop their case study, our six-step lifecycle captures the distinct, high-level stages of most data science projects and associates a robust conceptual framework that sheds light on the benefits and challenges of ethics-centered data science approaches. 

Contact us to join the effort!