Strategies for Public Engagement with Official Statistics

Ridgway, J.; Nicholson, J.; Sutherland, S.; Hedgers, S.

Abstract

High quality data are available on a very wide range of topics. However, there are barriers to be overcome before citizens engage with these data. First is access; data are often distributed across different websites. Second is exposure; data need to be presented in the most commonly used information sources. Third is engagement – creating a climate where citizens are interested in evidence. The House of Commons Library (Library) and Durham University are collaborating in order to promote better use of data. The Library is the first port of call for politicians; their blogs and tweets are a major information resource for journalists. A website created ahead of the UK general election provides a rich resource for data at constituency level. Quizzes have been created which run on smartphones, in an effort to engage a broader section of people in evidence-based discussions. We discuss strategies designed to encourage public engagement with official statistics.

Citation

Ridgway, J., Nicholson, J., Sutherland, S., & Hedgers, S. (2015). Strategies for Public Engagement with Official Statistics. In M. Sorto (Ed.), Advances in statistics education : developments, experiences and assessments. Proceedings of the Satellite conference of the International Association for Statistical Education (IASE), July 2015, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

• Conference Name: IASE Satellite Conference
• Conference Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Start Date: Jul 26, 2015
• End Date: Jul 31, 2015
• Acceptance Date: Apr 30, 2015
• Publication Date: Jul 31, 2015
• Deposit Date: Sep 10, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 24, 2015
• Book Title: Advances in statistics education : developments, experiences and assessments. Proceedings of the Satellite conference of the International Association for Statistical Education (IASE), July 2015, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1153595
• Publisher URL: http://iase-web.org/Conference_Proceedings.php?p=Advances_in_Stats_Education_2015