As part of our funding commitment for
Statisticians for Society, the Royal Statistical Society is developing an online resource to support those working in third sector. The Statisticians for Society Knowledge Hub will aim to inform and help users build their knowledge around key topics in statistics and data.
Using our learnings from pro bono statistical projects, we intend to help charities and other third sector organisations to understand their statistical needs, define their statistical questions and ideally draw their attention to the areas they should consider before any statistical work is commissioned.
We are now seeking volunteers to help write content on the following statistical topics:
- Best practice for collecting data
- Best practice for presenting data
- Best practice for analysing data
- Best practice for storing and handling data
- Buying data - what is available?
- Finding and using public data
- Data Laws 101
- Surveys 101
NB. Writers will be credited for their work.
We would like to appraise the quality of the content and are looking for volunteers who would be willing to review the commissioned content above.
The ideal candidates should have experience of presenting and explaining statistical ideas, tools, practices and processes to diverse audiences. There will be a short webinar for writers and reviewers where we will go through the purpose and requirements for the Knowledge Hub.
To find out more about this opportunity, please email
s4s@rss.org.uk. To express interest, please send your CV and a supporting statement (no more than 250 words) to
s4s@rss.org.uk, indicating the topic(s) you wish to write or review and why you are suitable for this volunteering opportunity.
The closing date for expressions of interest is
Sunday 11 September.
| Statistical topic |
Potential content points for each topic/area |
| Best practice for collecting data |
- This is about getting data other than by surveys – e.g. writing to all government departments, other charities, local councils.
- Other ways of collecting data other than surveys include methods such as: web scraping, twitter firehose, metadata collected from previous studies/surveys, iot data, etc.
- Importance of precisely specifying what you want
- Maybe use a contact in a target organisation to discuss specification, be prepared to adapt it so that it can be supplied (no point in asking for what they can’t supply)
- Time periods, inclusions/exclusions, geographical coverage, granularity, what to do about missing items
- Minimising the burden on suppliers
- Use of freedom of information act.
|
| Best practice for presenting data |
- Aiming for something which is honest, clear, easy to understand, compelling
- Choice of methods of presentation – tabular, textual, graphic, dynamic
- Structuring a presentation
- Avoiding being misleading
|
| Best practice for analysing data |
- Think about the purpose of the analysis
- Simple summaries versus more sophisticated methods
- Getting help
- Avoiding pitfalls
|
| Best practice for storing and handing data |
- Hard copy or computer
- Database or spreadsheet
- Security and backup
- Version control
- Thinking about how you will want to analyse it
|
| Buying data – what is available |
- Examples in the public sector (govt depts, local authorities)
- Examples in the private sector (Experian etc.)
- Specify carefully what you want (if you get it wrong you may have to pay again!)
- Can you get it for free (see public data page, think about freedom of information act)
- Will you need repeat supplies?
|
| Data Law 101 |
- Personal data
- Sensitive data
- GDPR
- Other key legislation
- Data suppliers may impose restrictions
- Keeping data secure
- Making sure you know what you have made publicly available and what you have not.
|