Chapter 6: What would support people to use official statistics to make personal decisions?

Chapter summary and implications

This chapter pulls together overall findings from the research, summarising key findings and proposing recommendations both for statistics producers and for further research.

6.1. Conclusion

This report has explored whether and how the UK public uses official statistics for personal decision-making through a combination of interviews and survey research. By examining real-world situations and hypothetical scenarios, we encouraged participants to reflect on their decision-making process, and how they engage with official statistics.

Overall, we found that while participants did use official statistics, their engagement varied:

• Some knowingly used official statistics to inform their decisions.
• Others unknowingly used them, often encountering statistics through intermediaries such as Google searches, social media and commercial websites.
• Participants rarely relied solely on official statistics but instead used them alongside other sources, including for verification, idea generation, comparison and reassurance.

Participants reported being more likely to use official statistics when:

• they perceived decisions as important
• they lacked other sources of evidence
• they were aware that official statistics existed and were useful
• they trusted the statistics
• they believed the data were relevant to their personal and local context

6.2. Implications and next steps

Based on these findings, we have outlined a series of recommendations to enhance the role of official statistics for personal decision-making, ensuring that they serve the public good as effectively as possible. We hope these recommendations will contribute to a broader discussion within the statistics and wider community about how official statistics are not just used by professionals and institutions, but can be better adapted and presented to serve the public directly.

These recommendations are directed at statistics producers; however, they will also be used by OSR to inform how it regulates, advises and supports producers.

6.2.1. Increase public awareness of official statistics

Some participants were unaware that official statistics existed, or that they could be useful for decision-making. To address this finding, we recommend that producers of official statistics:

• Focus on search engine and large language model optimisation: optimise official statistics websites for Google and large language model searches to ensure that they appear when users search for related topics.
• Communicate official statistics on social media platforms: show examples of how official statistics could potentially inform decision-making.
• Understand who the users are, how they use individual statistics and where they access them: this would enable meeting the more-ambitious recommendations around raising awareness of statistics that are directly relevant to the public.
• Consider the implications of extensive reliance on intermediaries: explore how official statistics and other government data are communicated by intermediaries, and whether there are ways in which public needs might be met more directly.
• Leverage and support intermediaries: collaborate with commercial and other platforms that people go to when making decisions to ensure that statistics are embedded in those platforms and that they are supported to present statistics well.

6.2.2. Improve relevance of official statistics

Some participants found national, aggregate statistics less useful and preferred data that were tailored to their personal and local circumstances. To address this finding, we recommend that producers of official statistics:

• Provide localised breakdowns: present data at local levels, ideally at the neighbourhood level when possible.
• Allow for customisation: develop tools and data visualisations, such as dashboards, that let users filter statistics based on the relevant factors for their decisions.
• Provide comparisons: offer meaningful benchmarks such as comparisons to familiar contexts or changes over time.
• Develop and promote statistics akin to reviews: emphasise the human element and that surveys are an expression of people’s lives, with citizens at the heart as producers of shared information.

6.2.3. Improve trust in official statistics

Participants were more likely to use information sources that they trusted. To address this finding, we recommend that producers of official statistics:

• Increase transparency: clearly explain how data are collected, who collects them and any limitations of the statistics.
• Strengthen independent oversight: promote third-party fact-checking of official statistics.
• Demonstrate relevance: show how official statistics can be relevant to personal decision-making to build credibility and relatability.

6.2.4. Improve clarity of official statistics

A key barrier to participants’ use of official statistics was the perceived difficulty of understanding them. To address this finding, we recommend that producers of official statistics:

• Use simple language and explain key terms: replace or explain technical terms and provide clear definitions.
• Avoid statistical jargon: replace or explain statistical jargon such as “year ending”, “seasonally adjusted” and sector descriptions.
• Tailor presentation: consider different audiences and preferences when developing communication materials.

6.2.5. Balance detail with simplicity

Participants reported different preferences for the level of detail when presented with official statistics. Some wanted more detail, while others felt overwhelmed by too much information. To address this finding, we recommend that producers of official statistics:

• Offer tiered information presentation: provide summary insights first, with an option to explore more-detailed data for those who want to.
• Develop interactive tools carefully: ensure data dashboards are intuitive, with guidance on how to navigate them.

6.2.6. Make the case for official statistics in personal decision-making

Currently, there are no official platforms, such as websites or apps, where official statistics are presented specifically and purposefully to help inform personal decisions. Our findings suggest that there may be an unmet and “hidden” demand from the public for such platforms. To address this finding, we recommend that producers of official statistics:

• Identify official statistics that could be useful for personal decisions: this would require a systematic review of all official statistics, likely involving all official statistics producers alongside public engagement.
• Create a hub or app with useful statistics: ensure that statistics are easy to access and use specifically to inform personal decisions, for instance through an app.
• Produce a case study of useful statistics: requiring less resource than developing and maintaining a hub, this would highlight how public statistics can inform key personal decisions.

6.3. Possible future research studies

We believe that this project is an important starting point to understand how official (and other) statistics inform the public’s decision-making. However, it is exploratory in nature, and hopefully can build a foundation for future research studies that explore and further refine how official statistics are communicated, understood and integrated into everyday decision-making. Below, we have provided a (non-exhaustive) list of areas, which we have identified for possible future research. Many of these link to the recommendations outlined in the executive summary.

6.3.1. Improving access to official statistics

• Explore how official statistics appear in Google searches and large language models (such as ChatGPT).
• Explore who uses individual official statistics among the public, how they use them and where they access them.

6.3.2 Understanding the role of intermediaries

• Explore how official statistics are communicated by intermediaries such as social media, news organisations and commercial websites.
• Collaborate with intermediaries to measure how frequently official statistics are accessed through these platforms.

6.3.3 Improving comprehension and engagement

• Test comprehension and engagement with official statistics presented in formats similar to online reviews.
• Develop and test ways to communicate how surveys place citizens at the heart of shared information gathering as producers.
• Explore and test new ways to communicate how data are collected, by whom and the limitations and uncertainty in official statistics.
• Develop and test alternative descriptions for common statistical jargon, for instance replacing terms like “year ending” and “seasonally adjusted” with more-accessible language.

6.3.4 Exploring new delivery methods

• Assess public appetite for a central hub or app presenting a range of official statistics in an accessible format.