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Data in the News: League Tables

Date:

14/04/2015

Organised by:

University of Manchester

Presenter:

Ian Plewis

Level:

Entry (no or almost no prior knowledge)

Contact:

Short courses administrator; cmist-courses@manchester.ac.uk

Map:

View in Google Maps  (M13 9PL)

Venue:

Humanities Bridgeford Street, Oxford Road, Manchester

Description:

Outline

Institutional rankings – in the form of so-called league tables – are ubiquitous in public debates about the quality of institutions. The stated rationale for league tables, the methods used to construct them, and their strengths and weaknesses will form the basis of the morning session. The material will be illuminated with examples from secondary school, university and hospital rankings and how these rankings are represented in the media.
In the afternoon, participants will work in small groups on some simplified but real data. After some simple data manipulation and visualisation using EXCEL (for which help will be provided), they will construct a short news story from these data and present it to the rest of the group.

Course Objectives

  • To provide participants with an understanding of why ranking institutions is thought to be useful.
  • To provide participants with the tools to assess whether the stated aims of league tables are met in practice.
  • To examine how league tables are represented in the media.
  • To provide participants with an introduction to the statistical capabilities of spreadsheet programs like EXCEL.
  • To draw out some more general issues about the use of data and statistics in public debates.

Prerequisites:

None although some experience with spreadsheets would be useful. This is not assumed, however, and help will be provided with using EXCEL during the course.

Recommended reading:

Blastland, M. and Dilnot, A. (2008) The Tiger that Isn’t. Profile: London. (especially pp.184-189).
Foley, B. and Goldstein, H. (2012) Measuring Success. British Academy: London.

About the instructors:

Ian Plewis is Professor of Social Statistics. He has, from time to time and for many years, worked on the construction and use of league tables. Some of the material for this course has been used with University of Manchester undergraduates.

Cost:

£195 (£140 for those from educational and charitable institutions)

Website and registration:

Region:

North West

Keywords:

Data Collection

Related publications and presentations:

Data Collection

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