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
Making the grade in Memphis
Patrick McCloskey, November 10, 2009
Catholic schools achieved the greatest social transformation in American history, pulling impoverished Irish immigrants out of the underclass and into the working and middle classes, writes Patrick McCloskey, author of “The Street Stops Here” – an account of a year in the life of a Catholic School in Harlem. These schools now provide a lifeline for disadvantaged, non-Catholic minorities in urban America, boosting graduation and college acceptance rates, and outperforming many equivalent public schools. But they are also disappearing from the very neighborhoods that need them most. McCloskey reports on how one diocese has bucked the trend, what it means to one family, and what it could mean for America.
Watch Patrick McCloskey discuss his book The Street Stops Here at Boston College.
This is the first of what we hope will be many more traditional journalism pieces that investigate issues at length using quantitative data
RECENT ANALYSIS
Why you should vaccinate your child against H1N1
Gary Kreps, Ph.D and Rebecca Goldin, Ph.D, November 17, 2009
The decision to vaccinate against swine flu is a slam dunk. You just need to get past the vaccine voodoo.
BPA and erectile dysfunction
Rebecca Goldin, Ph.D., November 17, 2009
Did the numbers on a widely publicized study about Bisphenol A’s effect on the libido add up to a call to Bob Dole? STATS digs into the numbers.
Recent articles on BPA
Consumer Reports "highly biased," says top European scientist: No need to avoid canned food
Trevor Butterworth, November 12, 2009
As scientific criticism mounts, Consumer Reports refuses to release details of how its BPA study was done or the name of the outside lab it used.
Top US EPA scientist rejects Consumer Reports’ BPA claim
November 10, 2009
Magazine’s criticism of latest EPA study showing no adverse effects from BPA recycles “ad-hominem attack” repeatedly shown to be “without scientific merit,” says EPA’s Senior Reproductive Toxicologist.
The BPA controversy: When journalists can’t tell good evidence from bad
November 6, 2009
Toxicologists overwhelmingly believe that journalists can’t spot bad science.
Consumer Reports BPA study filled with factual errors
November 2, 2009
Consumer Reports made so many factual errors in presenting its data on BPA in canned goods that no-one could have possibly read the actual research. Call for ban on chemical puts public at risk from deadly food borne pathogens.
McScience: Scientists say USA Today is scary
November 2, 2009
Only five percent of toxicologists surveyed by STATS say that USA Today reports risk accurately.
New independent study by EPA refutes BPA risk
October 30, 2009
A major independently-funded study by the EPA fails to find evidence of low dose effects from Bisphenol A.
The Pricewaterhouse Coopers controversy: Fair arguments or flawed methods?
Nirit Weiss, MD, MBA, October 29, 2009
Trevor Butterworth, October 27, 2009
STATS BLOG
The truth behind Thanksgiving myths
(November 25, 2009)
The Street Stops Here with STATS fellow Patrick McCloskey
(November 23, 2009)
Vital Statistics
(November 20, 2009)
Sleep off fat and other tall tales from TV health reporting
(November 18, 2009)
Margaret Lewin on Evidence Based Medicine
Originally posted on our collaborative site, Ourblook.
(November 17, 2009)
Grumpy is good for careful but not creative thinking
(November 12, 2009)
The Internet has not discouraged people from visiting cafes, study finds
(November 6, 2009)
Read more blog items
STATS IN THE NEWS
Black Swan Flu
Forbes- A commentary by Trevor Butterworth
(November 25, 2009)
Can Plastic Change Your Sex?
Forbes- A commentary by Trevor Butterworth
(November 19, 2009)
Double Whammy: MSNBC's 'Green Week' Coverage Attacks Bottled Water and BPA
STATS is cited by The Business & Media Institute
(November 16, 2009)
Does BPA give you the willies? It shouldn't
Trevor Butterworth cited in Toronto's Globe and Mail
(November 10, 2009)
Early Stress Changes Genes Involved in Bonding, Relationships
Maia Szalavitz on Time.com's Wellness Blog
(November 9, 2009)
Don’t Worry, Be Happy: The Warranty Psychology
STATS Research Director Dr. Rebecca Goldin in the New York Times.
(November 6, 2009)
STATS on NBC Nightly News
Trevor Butterworth is interviewed on the controversial chemical BPA
(November 4, 2009)
Healthy Sleep: New Research on Memory, Fat, Golf
Maia Szalavitz on Time.com's Wellness Blog
(November 3, 2009)
Taxes: the new 'expert' quack cure
Trevor Butterworth in the New York Post.
(October 29, 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.
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
Rebecca Goldin, Ph.D, October 8, 2009
Statistics are everywhere — from how many people lack health insurance to how to improve math education — yet they are poorly understood by the general public and the press alike.
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?
Plus, The do's and don'ts of kicking addiction and treating alcoholism.
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
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
STATS experts analyze the everyday concerns of parenting.
Land of the free, home of the scared: An interview with Lenore Skenazy
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.
