This seems to be the way things are moving.
However, users of statistics I come across find that the new version is as much in the control of a priesthood as the old.
ONS statisticians (and their equivalents) are punctilious about explaining the limitations of the figures. The pages of notes accompanying each release are needed for this (although much ignored).
The transparency/internet version (like data.gov.uk) requires proficiency in SPARQL and CURL to get any data at all, and then the process strips off the notes accompanying the data.
The end result appears on sources like Guardian datablog with basic issues of accuracy and coding errors in the source unreported. When this is raised, the response tends to be that we're crowdsourcing the data so anyone can comment.
It'll get to some medium position sometime.
Sorry for sounding like some old curmudgeon.
Paul Bivand
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-----Original Message-----
From: email list for Radical Statistics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Phillip Kent
Sent: 05 March 2012 12:54
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Official Statistics: a very short introduction
May I offer a comment, as a non-statistician, and I realise the thread
started specifically about books.
It seems to me the 'action' is elsewhere, in websites, or even phone
apps (augmented reality...). For example, I have seen examples of public
communication websites from national statistics agencies of Switzerland
and Australia. And the US government has had several competitions for
the best/most innovative use of its public data sets. This is a good
information source: http://blogstats.wordpress.com/
But I think going to an interactive medium makes sense in terms of what
is possible to communicate. With a statistics and visualisation engine
running, 'readers' become empowered to ask their own questions, and look
for answers. And the fact that a question may not have any simple answer
can be a more powerful piece of learning about the nature of statistics
than a whole stack of reading.
BTW, I am not advocating Rosling-style graphics alone, I think users
need to be given far greater control over what data they can access and
how it is visualised. And computer gaming, though not to my taste, is a
critical genre of interaction for (probably) a majority of the
population.
- Phillip
On Sun, 2012-03-04 at 22:50 +0000, Macfarlane, Alison wrote:
> The same applies to the various versions of the unofficial guide to official health statistics, produced by Radical Statistics.
>
> Alison
>
> ________________________________________
> From: Ruth Levitas [[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: 04 March 2012 22:07
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Official Statistics: a very short introduction
>
> small disciplinary plug - actually we were mostly in Bristol's Sociology
> Department at the time. I don't recall any resources apart from Will and I
> sitting up all night.
>
> Ruth
>
>
> On Sun, March 4, 2012 8:03 pm, Jeff Evans wrote:
> > I think there may be several ways of responding to the needs indicated by
> > Tom. A type of general short book, such as he describes, has been produced
> > periodically - I recall M. Slattery (1986), Official Statistics,
> > Tavistock, which may also have been part of a series.
> >
> > The problem, I think, is in keeping the book short and general - but also
> > interesting. In this area, there are a limited set of things you can say
> > in general about official statistics, but it is challenging to show how
> > they matter - in a short space, and without going into examples, of one or
> > more series where you have, in each case, to go into the definitions of
> > variable and the current policy needs they are meant to address. The
> > specific cases, crime or inflation etc., become interesting, but take
> > space to develop properly.
> >
> > So one might consider a larger book, edited with many contributors, like
> > Statistics in Society (1998) or Demystifying (1979), or Interpreting
> > Official Statistics, eds. Levitas & Guy (1996). But you need an
> > organisation like Radical Statistics, or the Univ. of Bristol Social
> > Policy [?] Dept. to have the resources to do that.
> >
> > So there may be a place for the smaller book. It might be worth scanning
> > the excellent book, The Tiger That Isn't, by M. Blastland & A. Dilnot
> > (2007/2008), to consider what they have "left out". The BBC series "More
> > or Less", on which the book was based, has of course produced more
> > programmes since.
> >
> > Finally, anything that might raise the visibility of official statistics
> > in discussions of curriculum, at any level, is to be welcomed. The RSS,
> > with the Society of Actuaries, published a report on school and college
> > level, in January, by Roger Porkess, which is generally helpful, but the
> > issues around a need for the critical examination of statistical data,
> > particualrly official data, are not emphasised.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Jeff Evans
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: email list for Radical Statistics [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> > On Behalf Of King T.
> > Sent: 29 February 2012 09:17
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Official Statistics: a very short introduction
> >
> > I have recently been reviewing the Very Short Introduction to Statistics
> > and I noticed that it says very little about official statistics. The VSI
> > series covers all manner of weird and wonderful topics but nothing that
> > really covers anything like official statistics. Something that gave the
> > history and also covered reasons for collecting data and governance etc
> > would be interesting. It could also explain ideas like seasonal adjustment
> > and different measures of certain things like unemployment. It could also
> > give considerable insight into the role a census plays in the statistical
> > system. Then it might move on to more complex issues such as performance
> > indicators. I think there would be a book in it, the only difficulty is
> > how to look at the international perspective including the role of
> > international organisations. Do you think it is possible to suggest such a
> > commission to OUP, or is it something radstats might consider doing?
> > Tom
++++++
Dr Phillip Kent, London, UK
mathematics education technology research
[log in to unmask] mobile: 07950 952034
www.phillipkent.net
++++++
"Man's rush to the n'th floor is a neck-and-neck race
between plumbing and abstraction" - Rem Koolhaas
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