By Laini Byfield
Bring a Small Data Ethics Question
Small Data Ethics is currently an open-access resource for people working with human-scale datasets: wellness programs, benefits data, public health pilots, community datasets, eligibility decisions, vendor files, and internal reporting.
If you are working through a small data problem
You are welcome to send a question or use case. This is not a paid engagement at this stage — it is an open invitation to bring real problems that help shape the framework, future tools, checklists, and diagnostics.
Good governance questions are usually not complicated. They are just the ones nobody stopped to ask before the program went live.
Good questions include
- Could this dataset expose people even if it is “de-identified”?
- Is this incentive fair, voluntary, or quietly coercive?
- What should we document before sharing data with a vendor?
- How do we create an appeals path for a data-driven decision?
- What should be checked before a small dataset is merged, scored, or reported?
Please do not include private health information, personally identifiable information, or confidential employer or client data. Generalized scenarios are best.
Future services
Diagnostic services, workshops, and governance templates are in development. The framework is being built in public, and real questions from practitioners are what will shape those tools.
In development
- ETHICMAP vendor evaluation diagnostic
- Program governance workshop
- Governance kit: charters, appeals templates, change log standards
I am especially interested in
- Wellness and incentive program data questions
- Vendor onboarding and data-sharing governance
- Population health and community dataset decisions
- Appeals and error-correction design
Background and credentials
This framework did not come from theory alone. It emerged from direct experience designing and operating wellness and incentive programs where real people were affected by data errors, ambiguous rules, and delayed corrections.
Education
MPH candidate, Milken Institute School of Public Health · George Washington University
MBA · B.S. Engineering · Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Certifications
NBC-HWC · National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching
CITI Program · Human Research Protections · Social & Behavioral Research · George Washington University · Record ID 61975315
CCP · WorldatWork
Practice
Total Rewards Analyst with direct experience in multi-pillar wellbeing program design, benefits administration, and incentive data operations. Third Degree Classical Pilates instructor, Romana Kryzanowska lineage. NPI Type 1 credentialed provider.
Send a question
To share a question or use case, email laini@gwu.edu.
At this stage there is no standard paid engagement. If your question helps shape a future tool or diagnostic, I will let you know.