Promoting official statistics: Statistical literacy (DRAFT version) THE CONTRACTOR IS ACTING UNDER A FRAMEWORK CONTRACT CONCLUDED WITH THE COMMISSION

Statistical literacy: the concept Author H.G. Wells noted over 70 years ago: “Statistical thinking will one day be as necessary for efficient citizenship as the ability to read and write.” Chinese proverb “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

Statistical literacy: the concept Is the ability to understand and critically evaluate statistical results Is the ability to read and interpret summary statistics in the everyday: media, in graphs, tables, surveys ... Give citizens the ability to describe, compare and interpret statistics contained in tables and graphs Aim: is to improve the public understanding of numbers and figures

Components of Statistical literacy 1) Familiarity with using statistical thinking to deal with problems containing data 2) Appreciating the role of statistics plays in decision making 3) Being able to critically read data resources, data analyses, and summarized information Jun Li. Statistics Education for Junior High Schools in China

Why should we want statistical literates? Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics (UN) Principle 1: Official statistics provide an indispensable element in the information system of a democratic society, serving the government, the economy and the public with data about the economic, demographic, social and environmental situation. (...)

Why should we want statistical literates? What if people can’t understand our products because the don’t know what an index number is, or a sample or whatever? We’d love people to understand and be capable of using our products

Why should we want statistical literates? Now I can use the data More users! : ) I understand the data and how it was calculated I don’t accidentally misuse the data Better reputation for our institution I trust the method used We can only gain from it!

The Vision 2020 “We will make sure we deliver information in an interactive and easily comprehensible way, and improve the statistical literacy of European citizens and institutions by guiding them through the deluge of data and information from various origins.” “We will invest in educating our users to increase their statistical literacy, in particular tomitigate the risk of improper and unjustified use of our statistical products and services”

What can we do? The aim is to explain what and how we produce Methodologies are not always the best way to communicate with a broad audience, and require previous knowledge to understand them

What can we do? When it comes to statistical literacy, explaining requires: Friendly approach Attractive support (videos, infographics…) Forget the basis “Of course everybody here knows what hedonic prices are, right?”

What can we do? Many different resources depending on the target!: School corners Dedicated sections Blogs E-learning Forums Etc. Articles Videos Games Infographics Etc. Containing

DIGICOM inventory: conclusions All NSIs have some experience in Statistical literacy activities and products Many different approaches: blogs, videos, visits, collaboration with other institutions, e-learning tools, dedicated sections etc.

What are we doing so far? Lots of examples among us: Portugal: http://www.alea.pt/english/ Spain: http://www.ine.es/explica/explica.htm Latvia: http://www.csb.gov.lv/dati/statistika-skoleniem-un-skolotajiem-28317.html-0 Italy: http://www.istat.it/en/archive/statistical+literacy/page/2 Australia: http://www.abs.gov.au/censusatschool New Zealand: http://www.stats.govt.nz/tools_and_services/schools_corner.aspx

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