Andrew Pole's Model Or Prediction

When we considering whether Andrew Pole’s model or prediction is ethical or not, there are two basic principles we may think about: 1. Respecting consumers’ decision-agreement should be made before consumers participate in research and they can withdraw this agreement at any time. 2. Trying to maximize possible benefits of consumers and minimize possible harms to them. Based on these two principles, I think either Andrew Pole’s statistical model or his prediction behind this model, is generally ethical. First of all, In Pole’s statistical model, female Consumer in Target’s database were respondents who involved in this study with being informed. According to the ethical rules, receiving consent from consumers is the prerequisite for a company to use any personally identifiable information in their research. When consumers registered at Target, there is an agreement (User Agreement) between Target and consumers for using their personal information and putting their research result based on their information to improve their service, even though User Agreement may be too long and too summary.

The prediction made by Andrew Pole is really ingenious. It is an effective way for their company to compete with the others, and also provide convenience to consumers. We can see prediction like this one from Target everywhere. Take my situation as an example, I always get coupons, discounts and shopping suggestions from Target through mail and email. I do realize that they sent these stuffs to me based on my shopping behavior. However, conducting research on consumers’ behavior is a core competitive power for a company to compete and extend their profit, and this competition will finally benefits