← VCE Data Analysis

Ethical issue: use of inaccurate or incomplete data

Wrong, missing or out-of-date data can lead to false conclusions that harm people or give an unfair picture, such as leaving out groups or using old records.

Part of: VCE Applied Computing - U1O1 - Data analysis — Module 50, ACARA Digital Technologies Years 9–10 — Acquiring and Validating Data — Module 91, QCE Digital Solutions Unit 4 — Prototype Digital Data Exchanges — Module 121, WA Computer Science ATAR Year 11 — Data Management — Module 115

Understanding Ethical issue: use of inaccurate or incomplete data in VCE Data Analysis

What it does: Acting on wrong or incomplete data is the core ethical issue, because the person affected can suffer unfairly. Incomplete data lacks some values or groups, so conclusions drawn from it are not a fair view of everyone. Outdated records can cause real harm, such as sending letters or services to the wrong address or denying help to someone whose situation has changed. Checking that data is accurate, up to date and covers all relevant groups helps prevent unfair or harmful decisions. A missing group means the system has not learned about their needs, so decisions about them can be faulty and unfair.

Common mistakes: The loop should count records with a missing age, so the test must be 'age is None'. 'is not None' counts the complete records and hides how much data is missing. The age of the data is the current year minus the record year (now - record_year). Reversing it gives -6, so old records would never be flagged as outdated.

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This module's key terms are also in a printable crossword (Modules 38–54) and word search (Modules 25–54).

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Learning
Duo
A council plans new bus routes using a survey that only asked people who already use buses. What is the main ethical problem?
The data is incomplete because non-bus users are missing, so the conclusions give an unfair pictureThe data is too large, so the council must delete half of the responses
Matches
A school surveys only Year 12 students, then says 'all students want a later start time'.
↓
The survey leaves out other year levels (missing groups), so the conclusion about all students is unfair and unsupported.
Applying
Meanings
Term
Inaccurate or incomplete data
Meaning
Wrong, missing or out-of-date data can lead to false conclusions that harm people or give an unfair picture, such as leaving out groups or using old records.
Practice
=COUNTBLANK(C2:C100)
Testing
Gaps
=(B2:B100)
Check Answer
Spots
3for age in ages:
4 if age is not None:

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Quick Questions

1. A council plans new bus routes using a survey that only asked people who already use buses. What is the main ethical problem?
A. The data is too large, so the council must delete half of the responses
B. The data is incomplete because non-bus users are missing, so the conclusions give an unfair picture ✓
Leaving out groups (missing groups) makes data incomplete. Decisions based on it may ignore the needs of people who were not surveyed.
2. True or false: Using out-of-date records is only a technical problem and has no ethical impact on people.
A. False ✓
B. True
Outdated records can cause real harm, such as sending letters or services to the wrong address or denying help to someone whose situation has changed.
3. A school uses last year's enrolment list to decide how many lockers to order. Many new students joined this year. Which data issue is this?
A. Outdated records ✓
B. Missing encryption
The list is no longer current, so the decision does not match the real situation. This is an outdated records problem.
4. Which action best reduces the ethical risk of using inaccurate or incomplete data?
A. Check that the data is current and includes all relevant groups before making decisions ✓
B. Use the first dataset you find because it is quick and free
Checking that data is accurate, up to date and covers all relevant groups helps prevent unfair or harmful decisions.
5. A health app is tested only on young adults, then used to give advice to people of all ages. What is the likely outcome?
A. The advice will be accurate for everyone because the app uses a lot of data
B. Advice may be wrong or harmful for groups missing from the data, such as older people ✓
A missing group means the system has not learned about their needs, so decisions about them can be faulty and unfair.

Match the Pairs

Missing groups → A dataset leaves out some people, such as a survey that never asks students who are away, so the results give an unfair picture of everyone
Outdated records → Information that was correct once but has not been updated, such as an old address or a past enrolment, so decisions made from it can be wrong
A decision based on faulty data can harm a person, for example a loan refused because of a wrong credit record → Decision based on faulty data
Data that leaves out part of the population gives an unfair picture of the group being studied → Incomplete data
A school surveys only Year 12 students, then says 'all students want a later start time'. → The survey leaves out other year levels (missing groups), so the conclusion about all students is unfair and unsupported.
A council uses 2005 population records to decide where to build a new library in 2025. → The records are outdated, so the decision may not match where people live now and could disadvantage current residents.

Key Term

Inaccurate or incomplete data
Wrong, missing or out-of-date data can lead to false conclusions that harm people or give an unfair picture, such as leaving out groups or using old records.

Fill in the Blanks

1. =COUNTBLANK(B2:B100)
Hint: Type the function that counts empty cells to find missing data.
2. =IF(ISBLANK(C2),"Missing","OK")
Hint: Type the function that tests whether a cell has no value.
3. =IF(TODAY()-D2>365,"Outdated","Current")
Hint: Type the function that returns the current date, so old records can be spotted.
4. =IF(COUNTIF(E:E,"Year 12")=0,"Missing","OK")
Hint: Type the count that shows a group has no records in the data.
5. IF income = "" THEN DISPLAY "Data missing" END IF
Hint: Type the keyword that follows an IF condition before the action, so a decision is not made on missing data.

Spot the Error

Question 1
A ages = [15, None, 17]
B missing = 0
C for age in ages:
D if age is not None:
E missing += 1
F print("Missing:", missing)
Line D — The loop should count records with a missing age, so the test must be 'age is None'. 'is not None' counts the complete records and hides how much data is missing.
Question 2
A record_year = 2019
B now = 2025
C gap = record_year - now
D if gap > 3:
E print("Outdated data")
Line C — The age of the data is the current year minus the record year (now - record_year). Reversing it gives -6, so old records would never be flagged as outdated.
Question 3
A surveyed = ['A', 'B']
B for g in surveyed:
C if g not in surveyed:
D print('No data:', g)
Line B — The loop must check every group in the population. Looping over only the surveyed groups means the missing group 'C' is never found.
Question 4
A data_year = 2015
B if data_year > 2020:
C print("Update data first")
D else:
E print("Data is current")
Line B — Data from before 2020 is the old data that needs updating, so the test should be '<'. With '>' the old records would be treated as current and used for decisions.
Question 5
A records_checked == 0
B for r in [3, None, 5]:
C if r is None:
D print("Missing value")
E records_checked += 1
Line A — A single = is needed to assign the starting value. '==' only compares, so records_checked is never created and the program crashes.

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