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
A non-partisan and non-profit, we advocate scientific and statistical methods as the best way of analyzing and solving society's problems
STATS INVESTIGATES
Science suppressed: How America became obsessed with BPA
An in-depth examination of the science, risk assessment, and media coverage of the most controversial chemical since alar, drawing on interviews with the lead authors of two major risk assessments, and focusing on the accuracy of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's award-winning series, "Chemical Fallout," and the newspaper's campaign to have the chemical banned.
Download a PDF of the full report here
Are chemicals killing us?
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.
Dowload a PDF the press release here
STATS BLOG
BPA is not a "smoking gun" for breast cancer
(July 1, 2009)
Body mortality index
(June 26, 2009)
People who are active are healthier than those who just sit around, say two new studies
(June 23, 2009)
Read more blog items
STATS IN THE NEWS
Flaws in the Case Against BPA
New York Times- The claims about the dangers of the chemical BPA get a skeptical look in a report by STATS.
(June 30, 2009)
A genetic link between autism and anorexia?
Maia Szalavitz on Time
(June 22, 2009)
A case of chemophobia
STATS op-ed in Canada's National Post looks at why chemical scare stories make news even as the science says there is none
(June 18, 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.
STATS Research Director, Rebecca Goldin Ph.D, gave a workshop at USC Annenberg's California Endowment Health Journalism Fellowships on Friday, May 29.
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?