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A challenge to damned lies

Thu, 18 June 2009

Straight Statistics is a new campaign to improve the understanding and use of statistics by government, politicians, companies, advertisers and the mass media. Established by journalists and statisticians and funded by Nuffield, it aims to restore public confidence in statistics by exposing bad and promoting good practice.

The campaign aims to promote honesty and best practice in the use and dissemination of statistics, while at the same time exposing statistical abuse by government, politicians, companies, advertisers and the mass media.

Straight Statistics has good relations with the Royal Statistical Society and the Statistics Authority, but its role is different. It aims to promote a more visible public discussion of the use and misuse of statistics, and help educate those who should provide informed commentary on statistical issues.

The campaign has been set up under the chairmanship of Lord Lipsey, a non-aligned peer and a former journalist. He was motivated by an apparent increase in incidents in which statistics were misused – and where the misuse appeared to go unchallenged. Its Director is Nigel Hawkes, a former science and health editor of The Times.

Straight Statistics will use its website http: //www.straightstatistics.org
to promote accurate understanding and reporting of statistics, including official statistics, opinion polling and other uses. It aims to commission and promote longer analyses of the uses and misuses of statistics, to appear on the web-site or in newspapers or journals and to publish an annual report on the state of the nation’s statistics.

More information about Straight Statistics and its work can be found at http: //www.straightstatistics.org

Last Updated Thu, 26 November 2009