How can I develop my statistical ability at school?

You develop your statistical ability by doing some statistics. This means more than doing the statistical techniques that you learn in your mathematics lessons.

Whenever you see real data being used, ask yourself what they tell you. If there is a written commentary with the data, as in a newspaper article, ask whether the commentary is a true reflection of the data. Sometimes you will find that the article is misleading. Sometimes it is deliberately misleading, often it is not - the writer might not be very good at statistics. Make a note of the ways that you find statistics being misused.

Learn to ask critical questions so that you are aware of both the strengths of good data and the weaknesses of poor data. Ask who collected these data and how - are they more likely to be telling me the truth or are they likely to be biased in some way? If the data have been collected properly, what do they actually tell me? Use appropriate techniques that you know to get insight into the data.

Here is an example for you to try. The data were published in August 2002 and give percentages of boys and girls obtaining grades A* to C at GCSE in the summer of 2002. The press announcement from the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) said:

The results announced today showed that:

• Passes at A* - C have increased by 0.8 per cent to 57.9 per cent
• 97.9 per cent of GCSE entrants passed at grades A* - G
• Attainment has risen across the board but the gap between boys and girls remains worryingly high.

Here is an extract from the full table of provisional results produced by the Joint Council for General Qualifications on Wednesday 21 August 2002.

First study the table to make sure you understand it.

How well do you think the DfES statements reflect the data?

Since nearly all boys and girls enter for more than one GCSE, what do you think the 57.9% means?

If you want to follow this example up with more data, please go to the last page of this guide.

Learn the basic statistical techniques for getting insight into data and use them appropriately. These techniques include various ways of graphing the data (such as bar charts) and simple summaries of the data (such as the median, the mean, percentages).

If you are in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, then as part of your GCSE in mathematics you will have to complete a project in data-handling. Ask to choose a topic that is of real interest to you and which can lead to some useful statistical work and interesting conclusions. In other countries, including Scotland, there will be different opportunities.

In your other subjects, look out for areas where you can emphasise the use of real data to get deeper insight. In many of these you may be able to do a project. See if you can use data in your project - this will help you be more precise and less vague in your conclusions. You will have numerical evidence to support your arguments.