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Dissemination - Ethical considerations

HESA takes its compliance responsibilities under the Code of Practice for Statistics seriously and aims to act in ways that promote trust in its work. This means that we have skilled staff operating appropriate methodologies that result in high-quality statistics that offer value to users and data suppliers.

HESA also takes its responsibilities under the Code of Practice for HE data seriously and we aim to act with honesty, impartiality, and rigour in all that we do. We believe this helps secure better outcomes for HE with data, and it supports our charitable mission.

HESA has considered a range of specific ethical issues in the development of the Graduate Outcomes survey, including an evaluation of graduate perceptions of the survey undertaken as part of cognitive testing, and provision of support for respondents who are affected by the survey (including training for interviewers to recognise such issues in respondents). Our Graduate Outcomes Steering Group offer us a range of valuable perspectives that help us to determine an appropriate course of action in the management of the survey.

HESA also has access, on request, to the National Statistician’s Data Ethics Advisory Panel, a new body set up to improve ethical practice in statistics.

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