Creating change when everyone thinks they’re an outlier: Convincing local authority audiences to care about abstract statistical models using interactive data visualisation

Date: Thursday 18 May 2023, 5.00PM
Location: University of Sheffield
Hicks Building room K14, University of Sheffield
Local Group Meeting

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Creating change when everyone thinks they’re an outlier: Convincing local authority audiences to care about abstract statistical models using interactive data visualisation
Dr Calum Webb
You’ve just finished a large research project, published papers in academic journals containing interesting statistical models about an important social problem, and now you’re presenting the findings to local policymakers and directors of services to try and create a positive impact. The only problem is everyone you speak to tells you that they’re glad they’re not the average that your models are referring to; in fact, they’re the exception, they say.
This short presentation will talk about how I have tried to use interactive data visualisation tools developed with the Shiny package in R to try to encourage local authorities to engage with the implications from the statistical models in my research. The presentation will showcase the Child Welfare Inequalities Project App (www.cwip-app.co.uk); discuss my experiences as an amateur learning the tools used to build it as well as its reception; and explain where I see the potential benefits of such applications for quantitative research as a way to allow audiences to engage with questions about counterfactuals, interactions, and random effects in a bespoke way.
 
 
 
Dr Calum Webb from Sheffield Methods Institute