Meeting 1 - 11th December 2020

CSO Social Statistics Ethics Committee – Meeting 1 

Date: 11th December 2020

In Attendance:

Committee members:  

• Gerry O’Hanlon (Chair), former Director General, CSO
• Marguerite Barry, Assistant Professor, UCD
• Claire Finn, Principal Officer, Dept of Transport, Tourism & Sport
• James Williams, former Research Professor, ESRI
• James Barrett, CSO (secretary)

Invited presenters:

• Keith McSweeney, Senior Statistician, CSO
• Helen McGrath, Statistician, CSO
• Professor Hannah McGee, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences,

Agenda 

1. Introduction
2. Ethical touchpoints
3. SVS Introduction
4. Ethics and SVS
5. Terms of Reference
6. Next steps
7. AO.B

Minutes

Introduction/Welcome

The first meeting of the CSO Social Statistics Ethics Committee was opened by the Chairperson, Gerry O’Hanlon who welcomed the group. The Chair stated that the initial objective of the group is to assess the proposed Sexual Violence Survey (SVS) pilot from an ethical perspective.

CSO Introduction

Keith McSweeney made a presentation to the group on the ethos and background of the Central Statistics Office, outlining the core values of Independence, Objectivity and Confidentiality that lie at the centre of all CSO work.

Ethical touchpoints

Professor Hannah McGee was welcomed to the session. She was the Principal Investigator of the 2002 Sexual Abuse and Violence in Ireland (SAVI) Report. Prof. McGee began by sharing an overview of the SAVI methodology. She outlined five broad areas for identifying issues that she considered relevant when looking at the pilot SVS methodology:

• First engagement with household
• Follow up with person after the survey closes
• People sharing more details than expected in the survey
• Adverse publicity
• Staff wellbeing

SVS Introduction

Helen McGrath presented an introduction to the Sexual Violence Survey (SVS) to the group.

It outlined the background to the survey, the development stages for the survey and the modules within the questionnaire. The mode of the pilot survey was discussed in detail due to the changes in household interviewing in the office due to COVID-19. Experience from the use of different modes in the European Gender Based Survey was shared. The presentation summarised the critical importance of a pilot test for a web-based mode.

Ethics and SVS

Helen McGrath made a presentation to the group on “Ethics and the SVS” which outlined the areas in the methodology which reflected ethical best practise. The presentation looked at the issue from a principle’s perspective and also on a comparative basis. The principles used were drawn from the World Health Organisation’s publication on data collection on domestic violence which outlined 8 principles. questionnaire development, methods to address potential respondent distress and staff well-being were detailed.

Terms of Reference

The draft terms of reference for the group was discussed. It was clarified that the group is an advisory group making recommendations to the Director General who will ultimately decide on the final methodology. In light of this, it was suggested that the group change the name to reflect the advisory nature of the committee. The suggestion was CSO Social Statistics Ethics Advisory Group.

Next steps

Minutes of this meeting will be drafted. The next meeting was suggested for the end of January where the CSO will submit in advance a document addressing the points raised in this meeting.

AOB

There were no issues raised under this point

Actions arising from this meeting:

• CSO to draft a paper assessing the pilot from an ethical perspective based on the 8 Principles of the WHO and points raised by Prof. McGee for the next meeting. It was agreed that this should be issued in advance to the Committee. It was agreed this paper would be made available to group 2 weeks before the next meeting to allow the group a week to respond with any queries and allowing a further week for the CSO to address these before a final presentation at the next meeting.
• Helen McGrath to circulate a copy of the presentations to everyone.
• Committee to be contacted re date for next meeting - towards the end of January 2021.
• Minutes to be circulated through the Chairperson to the committee prior to the next meeting.