Statistics representing society: How well or poorly do statistics represent society, and what are the impacts of this on how they are used and valued?

Background

To deliver against our vision of statistics that serve the public good, in OSR we describe our work under the headings of how statistics are produced, how they are used, and how they are valued. However, in practice it is natural that elements of our work and interests cut across all of these three areas. Some of the questions we are interested in span multiple areas of our mission (how statistics are produced, used and valued).

Next steps

If you would like to share evidence or collaborate with us on any of these areas, please contact us at research.function@statistics.gov.uk.

Source

This question was published as part of the set of ARIs in this document:

Cross cutting interests Office for Statistics Regulations Areas of Research Interest Office for Statistics Regulation

Related UKRI funded projects


  • Understanding data, understanding society: using quantitative narratives to embed evidence, argument and data within the undergraduate curriculum

    Repeated reports by the ESRC have pointed to the shortage of social science undergraduate students with even basic quantitative methods skills. This is a situation that is harmful to the on-going viability and vitality o...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: University of Bristol

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project aims to create a cross-disciplinary social sciences curriculum that uses quantitative narratives to teach the principles and concepts of quantitative methods, which directly addresses the question of how well statistics represent society and their impacts on how they are used and valued.

  • Understanding Society Through Secondary Data Analysis: Quantitative Methods over the Undergraduate Life Course

    In the UK we have several large and complex datasets that reveal a lot of information about the characteristics of the general population. One of the main ESRC investments is a new study called "Understanding Societ...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: University of Lincoln

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project focuses on creating new versions of a large dataset called 'Understanding Society' that will be accessible to undergraduate students, and developing teaching resources for students to work through, which partially addresses the question of how well statistics represent society and their impacts on how they are used and valued.

  • The use of interactive electronic-books in the teaching and application of modern quantitative methods in the social sciences

    When social science researchers wish to carry out research into a specific problem, if they choose a quantitative approach they will collect either new data or existing data and perform statistical analysis on this data....

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: University of Bristol

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project aims to build on work in a current grant to develop an interactive electronic book system for learning and performing statistical analysis, which partially addresses the question of how well statistics represent society and their impacts on how they are used and valued.

  • Workshops for Teachers of Quantitative Methods for Social Science Undergraduates

    This proposal is for a series of workshops for teachers, or would-be teachers, of quantitative research methods for social-science undergraduates. Quantitative methods include statistical theory, survey questionnaire des...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: University of Oxford

  • Innovations in Small Area Estimation Methodologies

    Reliable statistics are crucial for policy relevant research. Small Area Estimation (SAE) methods generate robust reliable and consistent statistics at geographical scales for which survey data are either non-existent or...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: University of Southampton

  • 'No More Pointy-Clicking, Numbers Stuff: Building Staff Quantitative Skills.'

    There is a growing awareness in the social sciences, particularly sociology, that undergraduate students lack numbers-skills and the ability to conduct statistical analysis of data. There are a variety of reasons for thi...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: Manchester Metropolitan University