WHAT IS STATS?
We Want
People to think about the number behind the news
We Look
At major issues and news stories from a quantitative and scientific perspective
We Help
Journalists think quantitatively through education, workshops and direct assistance with data analysis
We Offer
Fellowships to journalists to pursue innovative and in-depth analysis of major issues
We Are
Non-partisan and non-profit; we advocate scientific and statistical methods as the best way of analyzing and solving society's problems. We are a sister organization of the Center for Media and Public Affairs - "America's preeminent news analysts"
STATS INVESTIGATES
Will a soda tax reduce obesity?
Trevor Butterworth, October 5, 2009
Public health experts are arguing that a tax on sugared soda could help curb obesity; economists aren't so sure.
RECENT ANALYSIS
Is the CDC wrong about who should get the swine flu vaccine first?
STATS BLOG
The toll of multiple traumatic events in childhood
(September 30, 2009)
Paul O’Rourke on Alternative Energy and ACESA
Originally posted on our collaborative site, Ourblook.
(October 5, 2009)
Children of the (candy) corn
(October 2, 2009)
Read more blog items
STATS IN THE NEWS
Cautious Hopes for a Cocaine Vaccine
Maia Szalavitz on Time.
(Octpber 7, 2009)
Can A Soda Tax Really Curb Obesity?
Forbes- A commentary by STATS' Trevor Butterworth.
(September 16, 2009)
What Can Parents Learn From The Dugard Family Ordeal?
Post Chronicle- STATS is cited in an article written by Lenore Skenazy.
(September 8, 2009)
A fellow at STATS since 2004, Szalavitz writes about health, science and public policy. She is co-author, with leading child trauma expert Bruce D. Perry, MD, PhD, of The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog and Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist's Notebook: What Traumatized Children Can Teach Us About Loss, Love and Healing (Basic, 2007) among other books.
A groundbreaking study conducted by STATS and The Center for Health and Risk Communication at George Mason University shows how experts view the risks of common chemicals - and that the media are overstating risk.
You can view the Media Monitor, Toxicologists' Opinions on Chemical Risk and Media Coverage, here.
Plus check out Science suppressed: How America became obsessed with BPA
on the web, or download a PDF of the full report here
Award-winning journalist, technology writer, and journalism educator Steve Ross boils down the essential principles journalists should follow when reporting on science, polling and statistics.
Odds Ratios
An odds ratio is probably the most difficult concept to grasp in reporting research findings.
Underage drinking is a serious problem for our society. From reports in the media, one gets the impression that it is getting worse ever year and that even casual teenage drinking carries with it devastating implications for our youth, including increasing the alcoholism rate of those who drink early and even death. Do the statistics support these stories?
Plus, The do's and don'ts of kicking addiction and treating alcoholism.
Watch STATS Director of Research, Rebecca Goldin Ph.D, lecture on how the media miss the mark in the use and presentation of statistics The talk was given as part of the Mathematical Association of America's Distinguished Lecture Series in Washington DC on October 28. 2008
Climate scientists agree on warming, disagree on dangers, and don’t trust the media’s coverage of climate change
S. Robert Lichter, Ph.D,
April 24, 2008
STATS experts analyze the everyday concerns of parenting.
Land of the free, home of the scared: An interview with Lenore Skenazy
Honoring some of the worst abuses of statistics and science in the past year.
Plus, The worst survey of the year, and whether "Pixie dust" can regrow severed flesh.
