Think TQV: How Trustworthiness, Quality and Value provide an ethical framework for building confidence and combating misinformation

The challenge of misinformation cannot be solved through technical fixes alone. It requires a broader commitment to how evidence is produced, communicated and used. The Code of Practice for Statistics, through its TQV framework, provides exactly this: a coherent ethical model that connects statistical quality with trust and public value. The addition of standards for public use further extends this responsibility, recognising that everyone involved in communicating statistics plays a role in shaping understanding.

Through its regulatory work, both reactive and proactive, OSR demonstrates how these principles can be applied in practice, from challenging misleading claims to supporting public understanding. Ultimately, “thinking TQV” represents a shift in mindset. It is an approach that places the public good at the centre of statistical practice and recognises that confidence is built not just through numbers, but through transparency, clarity and integrity in how those numbers are used.