Dear David

Just to clarify, are the Troike proposing to delete the current 'What is 
Radical Statistics' statement (<http://www.radstats.org.uk/about.htm> and 
also below) and replace it with the new text in your e-mail (below)?

The proposed text is fairly unobjectionable  but it is not very 'Radical', 
I would think that the Royal Statistical Society or even the Statistics 
Commission could also have the new text as their 'mission statement'!

Regards

David Gordon

'The Radical Statistics Group, usually abbreviated to Radstats, was formed 
in 1975 as part of the radical science movement associated with the 
establishment of the British Society for Social Responsibility in Science 
(BSSRS).

The researchers and statisticians who started Radstats shared a common 
concern about the political implications of their work and an awareness of 
the actual and potential misuse of statistics. Sadly, neither the BSSRS nor 
other organizations affiliated to the BSSRS, survived the 18 years of 
Conservative rule from 1979 to 1997.

RadStats is now independent of any other organisation. Members are 
'radical' in being committed to helping build a more free, democratic and 
egalitarian society. Members of Radstats are concerned at the extent to 
which official statistics reflect governmental rather than social purposes. 
Our particular concerns are:

    * The mystifying use of technical language to disguise social problems 
as technical ones
    * The lack of control by the community over the aims of statistical 
investigations, the way these are conducted and the use of the information 
produced
    * The power structures within which statistical and research workers 
are employed and which control the work and how it is used
    * The fragmentation of social problems into specialist fields, 
obscuring connectedness

Radstats members believe that statistics can be used as part of campaigns 
for progressive social change - just as they were used to support measures 
that led to improvements in public health in the 19th century.'


The Home page of the website also has the following statement

'We believe that statistics can be used to support radical campaigns for 
progressive social change. Statistics should inform, not drive policies. 
Social problems should not be disguised by technical language.'

Is the Troika proposing to also replace this with the new text?




--On 01 September 2010 10:35 +0100 David Manley <[log in to unmask]> 
wrote:

>
>
> Dear Radstat Members,
>
>
>
> Those of you who were at the Annual Conference in February will remember
> that a proposal was put forward to change the wording of the Radstats
> 'mission'. At the conference we were unable to agree on a new vision
> and the Troika (Along with a few others) were tasked with coming up with
> something suitable. After quite a bit of deliberation a we have devised
> the following:
>
>
>
> Radstats seeks to:
>   • Expose the assumptions which underpin decisions about the
> collection, analysis and interpretation of statistics.
>   • Ensure these assumptions are clearly and publicly documented in
> non-technical language and the statistics themselves should be publicly
> available.
>   • Promote the documentation of the ways in which statistics are used
> to justify policy decisions and monitor policy implementation
>   • Encourage the acceptance that the wide range of users of statistics
> should have an influence on what is collected and how.
>   • Enable statisticians and other data analysts to publish their
> analyses independently of employers and funders, irrespective of whether
> they work in government or other public sector organisations, or in the
> academic, commercial or voluntary sector.
>
> If you agree that the new version is suitable then you need not do
> anything. If, however, you are not happy with the new wording, then
> please let the Troika know, and proposal an alternative. We would like to
> move foward with this quite quickly so please respond (if necessary) by
> 15th September.
>
> Best wishes
>
> David
>
>
>
>
>
> ___________________________________________________
>
> Dr. David Manley
>
> Centre for Housing Research
> School of Geography and Geosciences
> University of St Andrews
>
> Irvine Building, North Street, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9AL
> Tel: ++44(0)1334 462383, Fax: ++44(0)1334463949, Email:
> [log in to unmask]
>
> Links: ESRC Seminar Series: www.neighbourhoodeffects.org
>        School of Geography and Geosciences: www.st-andrews.ac.uk/gg
>        Centre for Housing Research: www.st-andrews.ac.uk/chr
>
>
>
> The University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland : No
> SC013532
>
>



----------------------
Dave Gordon
Townsend Centre for International Poverty Research
University of Bristol
8 Priory Road
Bristol BS8 1TZ, UK

E-Mail: [log in to unmask]
Tel: +44-(0)117-954 6761
Fax: +44-(0)117-954 6756

******************************************************
Please note that if you press the 'Reply' button your
message will go only to the sender of this message.
If you want to reply to the whole list, use your mailer's
'Reply-to-All' button to send your message automatically
to [log in to unmask]
Disclaimer: The messages sent to this list are the views of the sender and cannot be assumed to be representative of the range of views held by subscribers to the Radical Statistics Group. To find out more about Radical Statistics and its aims and activities and read current and past issues of our newsletter you are invited to visit our web site www.radstats.org.uk.
*******************************************************