December 2017

1

A segmented analysis of responses to the Ethics Survey

Age, ethnicity, disability, gender and sexual orientation

Yvonne Morris, Policy Officer

Contents

Overview: page 2

Methodology: page 2-4

Results for:

Q1: page 5

Q2: page 6

Q3: page 7-8

Q4: page 9

Q5: page 10

Q19: page 11

Q20: page 12

Q21: page 13

December 2017

2

Overview

In the second part of the ethics survey respondents were invited to provide information about their age, ethnicity, disability,

gender and sexual orientation. This was optional. This paper presents a high level summary of notable differences between how

respondents in each of these groups answered eight questions in the survey (that is, notable differences within each group).

Methodology

Survey responses were segmented by age, ethnicity, disability, gender and sexual orientation for eight questions; Q1-5 & 19-21

(some answer types selected during survey design prevent this form of analysis, for example the “slider” used for questions 7-18).

Segmented response data is provided in appendices A1-A5 . Response rates for each of the five groups is provided in appendix B.

1556 people responded to the survey. However, because sampling was uncontrolled– anyone with a link to the survey could

complete it – we cannot infer that respondents are representative of the estimated 86,376 people in the library, archives, records,

information management, and knowledge management workforce1, so generalisations cannot be made. For this reason statistical

testing of segmented data has not been carried out. This report records notable differences identified following a high level

comparison between responses within each of the five groups.

It should also be noted that the number of respondents selecting some of the categories within some of the groups was very small.

For example, 18 options were provided for ethnicity* but “White: English/Welsh/Scottish/Northern Irish/British”, “White: Irish” and

“Any other White background” were the only ones selected by more than 15 respondents. Likewise the number of respondents

with a disability or health problem that limits their day to day activities “a lot” was 11, and the number of gay women/lesbians

responding to the survey was 14.

1 A study of the UK information workforce (2015)

December 2017

3

*Ethnicity

For the reason given above, the following four ethnic groups have been categorised as “White”:

White: English/Welsh/Scottish/Northern Irish/British

White: Irish

White: Gypsy or Irish Traveller

Any other White background

And the following 14 ethnic groups as BME:

Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups: White and Black Caribbean

Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups: White and Black African

Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups: White and Asian

Any other Mixed/Multiple ethic background (please describe in box below)

Asian/Asian British: Indian

Asian/Asian British: Pakistani

Asian/Asian British: Bangladeshi

Asian/Asian British: Chinese

Any other Asian background

Black/ African/Caribbean/Black British: African

Black/ African/Caribbean/Black British: Caribbean

Any other Black/ African/Caribbean background

Arab

Any other ethnic group

December 2017

4

Age

Due to the high number of differences identified when the seven age bands are compared, a decision was taken to focus on

respondents in the 20-29 and 30-39 age band.

Qualitative analysis

A high level segmented qualitative analysis of free text comments has also been carried out and, with the exception of one age

band (pp 6 & 7), no identifiable differences were identified.

December 2017

5

Results

Question 1: Are there values or ethical principles you wish to see upheld within the Information Professions?

Group

Notable differences within segmented response groups

Age None identified

Ethnicity

None identified

Disability A smaller percentage of respondents limited a lot by their disability/health problems answered "yes" to this question than respondents that are not disabled (72.22% to 91.51%), whilst for respondents limited a little, the percentage answering "yes" was higher (95.20%).

Gender None identified

Sexual orientation

100% of gay men and gay women/lesbian respondents answered "yes" to this question, and 98.04% of bi respondents, higher than the percentage of heterosexual/straight respondents (91.87%).

December 2017

6

Question 2: Where do you feel these values/ethical principles come from?

Group Notable differences within segmented response groups

Age A higher percentage of respondents in the 20-29 age band (83.33%) and 30-39 age band (80.68%) selected "A personal code developed through life experience" than respondents in other age bands (73.11% of 40-49s; 66.06% of 50-59s; 67.79% of 60-69s; 73.81% of 70+). A lower percentage of respondents in the 20-29 age band (65.38%) and 30-39 age band (69.08%) selected "The Ethical Principles/Code of Professional Practice provided by CILIP" than respondents aged between 40 and 69 (76.47% of 40-49s; 76.45%of 50-59s; 79.87% of 60-69s) Qualitative analysis: 8 of the 13 free text comments made by respondents in the 20 to 29 age band referred to an LIS course. This is higher than in other age bands.

Ethnicity None identified

Disability A notably smaller percentage of respondents limited a lot by their disability/health problems selected "Values/Ethical Principles required by my employer" or "The Ethical Principles/Code of Professional Practice provided by CILIP" than respondents who are not disabled (38.46% to 55.80% and 38.46% to 75.45% respectively).

Gender A higher number of female respondents (58.28%) selected "Values/Ethical Principles required by my employer" than male respondents (48.29%)

Sexual orientation

None identified

December 2017

7

Question 3: Have you ever felt concerned by a work-based ethical issue related to any of the following? (Select any

than apply)

Group Notable differences within segmented response groups

Age A higher percentage of respondents in the 20-29 age band (60.98%) selected "Funding limitations and their impact" than respondents in other age bands (49.12% of 30-39s; 44.66% of 40-49s; 54.18% of 50-59s; 49.04% of 60-69s; 50% of 70+). A higher number of respondents in the 20-29 age band (67.07%) selected "User/client information privacy" than respondents in other age band (52.65% of 30-39s; 47.33% of 40-49s; 41.21% of 50-59s; 36.94% of 60-69s; 35.71% of 70+). A higher percentage of respondents in the 20-29 age band (34.15%) selected "Challenges to net neutrality" than respondents in other age bands (24.78% of 30-39s; 20.23% of 40-49s; 17.0% of 50-59s; 17.20% of 60-69s; 9.5% of 70+). A lower percentage of respondents in the 20-29 age band (14.63%) selected "Bullying and harassment" than respondents in other age bands (24.34% of 30-39s; 29.01% of 40-49s; 27.09% of 50-59s; 30.57% of 60-69s; 30.95% of 70+). Qualitative analysis: 8 of the 14 free text comments made by respondents in the 20 to 29 age band raised issues relating to equality. This is higher than in other age bands.

December 2017

8

Ethnicity

"Lack of necessary skills in staff to do job to a good standard" was selected by a higher percentage of BME respondents than White (57.58% to 47.28%). "Challenges to net neutrality" was also selected by a higher percentage of BME respondents (28.79% to 19.71%), as was "Misrepresentation of information provided by my service" (21.21% to 16.01%).

Disability

A higher percentage of respondents limited a little by disability/health problems selected "challenges to net neutrality" (27.64%) and "bullying and harassment" (35.77%) than respondents with no disability/health problems (19.28% and 25.36% respectively). 44.44% of respondents limited a lot of disability/health problems selected "bullying and harassment".

Gender A higher percentage of male respondents selected "challenges to net neutrality" (25.91%) and "Misrepresentation of information provided by my service" (24.09%) than female respondents (16.90% and 12.90% respectively).

Sexual orientation

A higher percentage of bi (39.22%) and gay men (31.43%) selected "Challenges to net neutrality" than heterosexual/straight respondents (17.42%) or gay women/lesbian respondents (14.29%) A higher percentage of bi (52.94%), gay men (57.14%) and gay women/lesbians (57.14%) selected “User/client information privacy” as an issue than heterosexual/straight respondents (43.56%). The misrepresentation of information was selected by a notably higher percentage of bi (25.19%) and gay men (25.71%) than straight respondents (15.34%) or gay women/lesbian respondents (7.14%) A notably higher percentage of bi (31.37%) and gay men (37.14%) selected bullying and harassment than heterosexual/straight respondents (25.75%) or gay women/lesbian respondents (14.29%).

December 2017

9

Question 4: Do you think a professional ethical framework for library and information professionals can help in

addressing issues like those identified in the previous question?

Group Notable differences within segmented response groups

Age None identified

Ethnicity None identified

Disability A notably lower percentage of respondents limited a lot by disability/health problems selected "yes" (50%) than respondents who are limited a little (79.84%) or not disabled (77.81%) A notably higher percentage of respondents limited a lot by disability/health problems selected "don't know" (44.44%) than respondents who are limited a little (16.13%) or who are not disabled (17.38%).

Gender None identified

Sexual orientation None identified

December 2017

10

Question 5: Please explain why you think an ethical framework for information professionals can help in addressing

these issues.

Group Notable differences within segmented response groups

Age The percentage of respondents in the 20-29 age band (84.62%) selecting "Provides a useful starting point to critically evaluate a situation" is higher than for any other age band (70.48% of 30-39s; 68.32% of 40-49s; 67.40% of 50-59s; 56.34% of 60-69s; 65.71% of 70+).

Ethnicity "Provides a useful starting point to critically evaluate a situation" was selected by a higher percentage of BME respondents than White respondents (78.18% to 67%). "Helps to build greater trust between the end user and the Information Professional providing the service" was also selected by a higher percentage of BME respondents than White (76.36% to 55.62%).

Disability Respondents limited a lot by disability/health problems selected three of the options on the picklist more often than respondents who are limited a little or who are not disabled. These are "Provides a useful starting point to critically evaluate a situation" (88.89% to 63.64%% and 67.85% respectively), "Helps to ensure the best interests of the users/clients" (77.78% to 58.59% and 56.96% respectively) and "Helps to build greater trust between the end user and the Information Professional" (66.67% to 61.62% and 56.30% respectively). Two of the options were selected less frequently; "Provides a professional benchmark to explain and justify decisions" (66.67% to 89.90% and 89.11% respectively) and "Provides an appropriate framework to judge own professional conduct or that of other Info Pros" (55.56% to 76.77% and 71.78% respectively).

Gender A higher percentage of female respondents (90.56%) selected "Provides a professional benchmark to explain and justify decisions made in a particular situations" than male respondents (85.19%).

Sexual orientation

None identified

December 2017

11

Question 19: In your view is there anything missing from the Ethical Principles?

Group Notably differences within segmented response groups

Age A higher percentage of respondents in the 20-29 age band selected "yes" than in other age bands (17.43% of 30-39s; 13.46% of 40-49s; 14.54% of 50-59s; 19.11% of 60-69s; 20.93% of 70+).

Ethnicity None identified

Disability A higher percentage of respondents limited a lot by disability/health problems (22.22%) and those limited a little (20.16%) selected "yes" than respondents with no disability/health problems (15.65%)

Gender A higher percentage of male respondents (23.13%) selected "yes" than female respondents (13.30%)

Sexual orientation

A higher percentage of bi (27.08%), gay male (31.25%) and gay women/lesbian (23.08%) respondents selected "yes" than heterosexual/straight respondents (14.17%) and a higher percentage of heterosexual/straight respondents (40.05%) selected "don't know" than bi respondents (31.25%), gay men (21.88%) or gay women/lesbian respondents (23.08%)

December 2017

12

Question 20: In your view should anything be deleted from the Ethical Principles?

Group Notable differences within segmented response groups

Age A higher percentage of respondents in the 20-29 age band (70.37%) selected "no" than in any other age band (58.56% of 30-39s; 61.87% of 40-49s; 73.68% of 50-59s; 73.08% of 60-69s; 75.61% of 70+). A significantly higher number of respondents in the 20-29 age band (19.75%) selected "don't know" than in the 30-39 age band (31.53%).

Ethnicity None identified

Disability None identified

Gender A higher percentage of female respondents (24.74%) selected "don't know" than male respondents (16.23%)

Sexual orientation

A higher percentage of heterosexual/straight (71.67%), gay male (72.73%) and lesbian/gay women respondents (78.57%) selected "no" than bi respondents (57.14%), and a lower percentage of heterosexual/straight (14.29%), gay male (15.15% ) and gay women/lesbian respondents (14.29%) selected "don't know" than bi respondents (38.78%).

December 2017

13

Question 21: Overall do you think the Ethical Principles provide an appropriate basis on which to build a new

Ethical Framework for the Information Profession?

Group Notable differences within segmented response groups

Age None identified

Ethnicity A notably higher percentage of White respondents selected "yes" than BME (86.92% to 75.76%)

Disability A notably lower percentage of respondents limited a lot by disability/health problems answered "yes" (61.11%) than respondents limited a little (82.93%) or those who are not disabled (87.24%%) and a higher percentage were unsure (33.33% to 13.82% and 9.65% respectively )

Gender A higher percentage of female respondents (89.66%) selected "yes" than male respondents (81.62%)

Sexual orientation

A higher percentage of heterosexual/straight (89.17%), bi (84%) and gay women/lesbian respondents (85.71%) selected "yes" than gay male respondents (75.76%).