Question

your manager is concerned with the number of sick leave employees are taking. he asks you to generate statistics for him for your department. the median is significantly lower than the mean. one employee has been quite ill, resulting in an outlier for the data. what report would be unethical? eliminating the outlier and reporting the mean but explaining the reason to your manager personally reporting the median and indicating that due to a serious illness with one employee, the median is more accurate reporting the mean and indicating that there is one employee making the department look bad reporting both statistics and the outlier to the manager to explain the difference

Explanation:

• When reporting data, it is unethical to eliminate an outlier without proper documentation and full transparency in the report.
• Explaining the reason only personally (not in the report) does not meet the standard of full and proper reporting.
• Reporting the median with an explanation (Option 2), reporting the mean with an indication (Option 3), and reporting both statistics and the outlier (Option 4) are all more ethical as they provide context and transparency.

Answer:

Eliminating the outlier and reporting the mean but explaining the reason to your manager personally.