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

Americanizing the global mind?

Andrew Rasmussen, Ph.D, March 15, 2010

 

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Are we doing more harm than good by exporting our diagnoses and remedies for mental illnesses? A new book – Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche – sets the agenda for a vital public discussion.



Choking on hot dog data: Has pediatricians’ group gone wild?

Trevor Butterworth, February 23, 2010

 

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The American Academy of Pediatrics issues a stern warning on an “under-appreciated” risk. Good. But can it really be calling for the “recall” of food products with “significant and unacceptable choking hazard” based on 29-year old data showing five deaths per year?

RECENT ANALYSIS

Lowdown on the Ivory Corral?

Rebecca Goldin, Ph.D, February 23, 2010

 

Can soda give you pancreatic cancer?

Rebecca Goldin, Ph.D, February 11, 2010


Click here to see the BPA archive.


Main Archive


STATS IN THE NEWS

The New Digital Underclass

Trevor Butterworth on Forbes.com

(March 10, 2010)

The Dark Side of 'The Secret': Empathy and Inequality

Maia Szalavitz on Psychology Today.

(March 5, 2010)

Enviroporn

Forbes - A new article by Trevor Butterworth for his weekly column, Medialand.

(March 3, 2010)

New rules for big data

STATS Research Director Rebecca Goldin Ph.D is cited in The Economist.

(February 25, 2010)



More STATS in the news

STATS FELLOWSHIPS
Maia Szalavitz

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.

 

are chemicals killing us?
SURVEY
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.

 

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

 

STATS EDUCATION
Global Public Health Risk Communication: Lessons from the H1N1 influenza pandemic

February 8, 2010, 1-3pm

Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism

2950 Broadway, 3rd floor World Room New York, NY

Sherwood Ebey Lecture with STATS Research Director Dr. Rebecca Goldin
February 1, 2010 from 7:30 - 9:00 pm.

In this talk, Dr. Goldin will illustrate how the press often misuses statistics with examples from recent coverage.

 

IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS
The statistics on alcohol abuse

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.

Dr. Rebecca Goldin
ONLINE LECTURE
Spinning heads and spinning news: Statistics in the media

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

 

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FROM THE ARCHIVES
Global warming survey

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

 

dubious data
AWARDS
Dubious Data Awards

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.