In our latest blog post, OSR’s Head of Research describes a recent project which explored how individuals use statistics in their personal lives, leading to practical recommendations for statistics producers.
Like many expectant parents, I have spent a lot of time over the past few months trying to decide what to name my son. Given that I work at the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR), you won’t be surprised to hear that I turned to baby name statistics to help guide my decision. What may surprise you, however, is that it’s not just people that work at the statistics regulator who do this! In fact, our recent research has shown that I am far from alone in using official statistics to make personal decisions.
Real-life examples
Our study, conducted in collaboration with the Policy Institute at King’s College London and the Behavioural Insights Team, revealed numerous instances where individuals used official statistics to inform personal decisions. For example, many expectant parents, like me, consulted baby name lists to find the perfect name for their children. Some sought names that were not too popular, while others looked for names that had stood the test of time. Our research found that use of official statistics extends beyond baby names. For example, people also relied on crime statistics and school performance data when choosing where to live or which school to apply to for their child, demonstrating the broad impact of official statistics on personal decision-making.
Unseen influence
Interestingly, while half the respondents in the survey part of our research reported having used official statistics to make a personal decision at some point in their lives, the interview part of our research found that this may be an undercount: people often used official statistics without realising it. We heard that when participants searched for information online, they frequently encountered official statistics through Google searches or social media, even if they didn’t recognise them as such. This means that you may have personally used an official statistic to help with your own decision making, even if you didn’t know it at the time.
Potential influence
Beyond the hidden influence of official statistics is their potential influence: when we showed individuals official statistics, they often spoke about how they would have wanted to use them, if they had been aware of them. For example, statistics about patient experience with GPs were welcomed as an ‘objective version of online reviews’. This shows how important it is to make sure official statistics are promoted to all audiences that could benefit from them.
When people used official statistics
It won’t surprise you to hear that not everyone who participated in our research used official statistics in their decision making, and even of those who had used official statistics they didn’t use them all the time. Often people used statistics in combination with drawing on personal experiences, or advice from family and friends. We saw that people used statistics when:
- decisions were particularly important to them
- the choice wasn’t too emotional
- the statistics were very relevant to their personal and local context
- they trusted official statistics
- the statistics were easy to understand and clearly explained.
Perhaps this is why I, and many others, found baby name statistics so valuable – we heard from one participant that they put lots of effort into choosing a baby name because it is such a big decision:
‘It was quite hard because you just think that’s the name that the baby has to have for the rest of his life.’
OSR’s wider research programme
This research project is part of OSR’s broader research programme, which aims to identify what kinds of changes are needed, and by whom, to ensure that statistics are fully serving the public good. In this context, serving the public good means ensuring that statistics are a tool that can benefit everyone, rather than something that is exclusively for public bodies. By exploring how individuals use statistics in their personal lives, we can better support the development of statistics that truly meet the needs of the public.
Next steps
The findings from this research have led to several recommendations for statistics producers to help make official statistics suitable for everyday decision-making by members of the public. These recommendations that could help producers to:
- increase public awareness of official statistics
- improve the relevance of official statistics
- improve trust in official statistics
- improve the clarity of official statistics
- balance detail with simplicity
- make the case for official statistics in personal decision-making
At OSR, we are committed to supporting statistics producers to take these recommendations on board.
Overseeing this project while I choose my own son’s name has really brought to life for me the role of statistics in serving the public good when navigating life’s most significant moments, and I hope that sharing this has helped illustrate it for you too. After all, the power of statistics lies not only in shaping policy decisions that may feel distant, but also right on our doorstep, by enriching our everyday lives.