Statistics

Royal Statistical Society president Sylvia Richardson says pandemic has sparked huge interest in the discipline and highlighted body’s vital public role

Staff nerves fray as whistleblower row university calls time on course

The meta-analysis guru talks about the tyranny of low expectations, swimming upstream and the knowledge that an educated citizen needs

The president-elect of the Royal Statistical Society on stepping into Gladstone’s shoes, Florence Nightingale and why Brexit is nightmare for medical statisticians

Scientists wouldn’t cause unnecessary suffering to humans or animals, so why are they so careless with numbers, asks biostatistician

Concerns about the teaching excellence framework’s rigour and integrity have not been addressed. The exercise needs a fundamental rethink, says Guy Nason

Book of the week: Correct use and interpretation of big data can lead to the creation of new theories, finds Farida Vis

Expansion of league table reveals a more diverse list of countries and institutions

Paul Bernal on whether we can simply dismiss privacy concerns in order to embrace the world of big data

Look at the data. The truth is out there, but all must face what they find, says Shane O’Mara

A statistician of genius who was also a committed political activist has died

A leading mathematical statistician whose work anticipated the age of ‘big data’ has died

Book of the week: If all-seeing ‘miracle’ tech is making the decisions we must demystify the tricks, says Danny Dorling

What are the downsides to being able to monitor so many physical activities? asks Marcus Chown

Researchers find variation in marks given by same lecturers to similar students when working in different departments

Best-selling author explains how his love of sci-fi and romance stories have helped him craft his latest statistics odyssey

Cait MacPhee on back-of-envelope calculations and other tools to assess value and assumptions

Matthew Reisz meets the researcher challenging universities on their tendency to try and fit square pegs into round holes

In tomorrow’s world, all knowledge may be derived from data by a single process, finds John Gilbey

Scholars in countries with a permissive approach are three times more likely to use the technique

Maths problems are given an unusual twist when the living dead invade, says Noel-Ann Bradshaw

Are our ever more monitored lives becoming safer as a result? John Gilbey sifts the evidence

Niall O’Flaherty on a penetrating and nuanced account of Malthus’ insights and the consequent responses

A good grasp of basic statistics will help us to make the right life choices, finds Omar Malik

Fear of too much information has taken a bludgeoning but survives, discovers Andy Field