Ethical Presentations of Data: Tufte and the Morton-Thiokol Engineers

Abstract

It seems commonly assumed that presenting data is value-neutral. The data is what it is, and it is for those assessing it to make judgments of value. So a chart of earnings just tells us what a company has earned. The chart does not tell us whether the earnings are a good or bad sign. That valuation is to be made by those looking at the chart and is independent of the chart itself.

This view of the relation between presentations of data and value judgments is mistaken. Presentations are value-laden in at least two ways. How we choose to represent data is itself an ethically loaded value-judgment, and, second, presentations cause responses, including value-laden judgments.

I will illustrate these claims by examining Edward Tufte’s analysis of what the Morton-Thiokol engineers did the night before the Challenger launch. As we shall see, it is ethically loaded in two different ways.