Blog

Apr
2016

EU Freedom of Movement: What are the numbers?

With the EU referendum approaching, we've put together a blog series that looks at the data collected about the EU to better understand how being a member state affects the UK. In this first blog we've chosen to focus on migration. We’ll look at migration between the UK and the rest of the EU member states, but consider this within the wider context of migration to and from the rest of the World.

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Apr
2016

Have Only 1% Of Fathers Taken Up Shared Parental Leave?

It's the first anniversary of the Government's policy of Shared Parental Leave (SPL). To understand the impact of this policy, a survey has been carried out by My Family Care and the Women's Business Council. Many of our national newspapers have reported the headline message that only 1% of fathers have taken up SPL, but is this really true?

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Mar
2016

How Much Alcohol Is Too Much?

At the start of the year, the Chief Medical Officer announced new guidelines for alcohol consumption. The communication of these new guidelines was recently identified as being of concern by the Royal Statistical Society. In this blog we investigate what these concerns are and how they impact the interpretation of these guidelines.

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Feb
2016

Sensitivity, Specificity and Predictive Values – What is the best way to measure the performance of binary classification models?

Classification means assigning an outcome to an individual or case, usually for the purpose of making a decision. Examples include predicting which individuals will default on personal debt to decide who could be offered a credit card, or predicting which visitors to a retail website will make a purchase. In this blog we will discuss some ways of measuring the performance of a classification model.

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Jan
2016

Mapping and Analysing GCSE Performance Data

A recent BBC article discussed an apparent north-south divide in GCSE attainment. We've investigated these data in more detail to find out whether there is statistical evidence of this divide and whether it has changed over time.

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Oct
2015

The Importance and Effect of Sample Size

When conducting research about your customers, patients or products, it's crucial to consider what effect your sample size will have on how valid and reliable your conclusions will be. Larger sample sizes give more reliable results with greater precision and power, but they also cost more time and money.

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