Honey, I lost the kids: The undercount of young children in the US Decennial Census
In the five years prior to the 1 April 2010 US Decennial Census, there were…
Bill O'HareFebruary 11, 2016
Will England’s rugby team redeem itself at the Six Nations Championship?
This weekend sees the start of the 2016 Six Nations Championship, in which rugby teams…
Voodoo polls are bad news: here’s how to spot and stop them
"Over a third of students ‘no longer wish to study medicine’ amid the junior doctors’…
Robert FordJanuary 20, 2016
Getting more for less: Reflecting on the numbers in the IT revolution
A 2.7GHz processor, 16GB of RAM, and a 500GB solid state drive that is almost…
Steven FurnellJanuary 12, 2016
Ask a statistician: What are the chances of World War III?
In the second instalment of our new 'Ask A Statistician' column, Peter McIntyre, a pharmaceutical…
Brian TarranJanuary 5, 2016
The Great British Bayes-off: How much difference (statistically) does a soggy bottom make?
Macaroons, Swedish Princess Cake, and… hemp-flavoured bread? These days a simple Victoria sponge won’t cut…
Annie HerbertDecember 11, 2015
How Frank Wilcoxon helped statisticians walk the non-parametric path
Part of the job of a statistician is to make inferences about a population from…
Mario Cortina Borja & Julian StanderDecember 7, 2015
The failure of the election polls and the future of survey research
Before joining Significance, I spent more than a decade reporting on the market research and…
Brian TarranNovember 24, 2015
Paper cuts: Do ambient light levels influence criminal activities?
People often feel less safe when walking in the dark, for understandable reasons. It’s harder…
Brian TarranNovember 17, 2015
The joy of clustering
In April 2014, FiveThirtyEight published a statistical analysis of the paintings of Bob Ross. Journalist…
Samantha TynerNovember 11, 2015
Patricia: a record-breaking hurricane?
Hurricane Patricia was the most powerful storm in recent history. But how do its 200mph…
Mario Cortina BorjaNovember 4, 2015
Warren Buffett: Oracle or orang-utan?
Is the Sage of Omaha an investment genius, or just incredibly lucky? In this winning…
James SkeffingtonNovember 3, 2015
Ask a statistician: Will humans one day live forever?
Henry Cole, a 17-year-old student, asks: "Almost every day on the news there is a…
Brian TarranOctober 26, 2015
Who will win the Rugby World Cup? The (semi) final reckoning
It’s the semi-final weekend in the Rugby World Cup (RWC), with South Africa, New Zealand,…
Niven WinchesterOctober 22, 2015
Two years ago, the UN called for a ‘data revolution’. How far have we come?
An Ethiopian woman sells crops in a crowded market. Farmers can now receive regular updates…
Claire MelamedOctober 20, 2015
Angus Deaton: a statistician’s economist
Illustration: © Johan Jarnestad/The Royal Swedish Academy of SciencesA few years ago, former World Bank…
Ian PrestonOctober 13, 2015
Politics is broken: The Guardian’s Alberto Nardelli on the fragmentation of party support
It’s almost the end of party conference season in the UK – a time in…
Brian TarranOctober 8, 2015
Running against the odds – The probabilities of the London Marathon ballot
The late Chris Brasher, founder of the London Marathon, described the event as the ‘Suburban…
Anthony HatswellOctober 6, 2015
The stats in sport panel at RSS 2015: the bigger picture
In the absence of huge amounts of money, gaining a competitive edge in sport requires…
Oz FlanaganSeptember 30, 2015
How to communicate the uncertainty in economic statistics
Government statistical agencies often report official economic statistics as point estimates. Buried within the documents…
Charles ManskiSeptember 22, 2015
