Stats can be boring but as you point out, statistics with context and relevant to the audience members, make people think and remember.

Suddenly the statistic applies to them and that can be scary, it could change a persons thoughts, ideas or even behaviour.

Thanks for the examples.

The examples you give above are great – but sadly I’ve seen them taken more than a bit too literally in presentations and the *whole sentence* up on the screen (in a bad font and too small, to add insult to injury!). As a presenter you should *say* your statistic with a relevant context but if you’re using PowerPoint etc you should *show* something interesting – not the words.

Use an image to illustrate your point nicely – provide the context – but not to simply quote the stats. Pleeaaaasseeee!

S

Great points! Statistics can often be downright boring — or at the very least lacking in real impact — when not presented in a manner that helps the reader relate them to his or her experience.

You’ve presented some very practical advice in this post that every writer would do well to remember.

Thanks!
Jeanne

Thanks for your comments. You touch on two very important situations.

Fundraising: I think the primary goal of those who run the fundraising campaign is to give meaning to the statistics. Statistics alone may get headlines, but people are more apt to open their wallet when the connection between the stats and their personal situation is made clear.

Reporters: I agree with you that a wise reporter should acquire some basic statistical knowledge, particularly when reporting on products and services. In my view, the ideal reporter is one who can see through the marketing blanket (provided by the vendor), and translate it into a more objective context. A company may say that product A makes my life happier, but is there really something of substance there? To be fair, the definition of “reporters” here could be extended to include both mass media as well as independent media (including bloggers).

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With a knowledge of statistics, though, a person would be well equipped to go into scientific or medical editing–not to mention writing for these genres. I think the warm blanket aspect is moreso necessary for the lay audience, as you allude, to really bring the numbers home to them (eg, in a fundraising piece or other call-to-action). Newspaper (or magazine) reporters would do well to have at least a basic grasp of it, too!

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Thanks for your comment. When I was a graduate student, it became painfully clear that making statistics relevant and understandable is a huge challenge for a considerable fraction of those in academia.

In scientific papers, you can usually get away without paying too much attention to providing a context for statistics because the audience is generally a highly focused niche of experts. But when writing or giving a presentation for a broader audience, there is a greater need to “wrap up” those statistics.

Too often, the focus is on “deliver as many results/numbers/statistics as possible” when the focus should be on selecting the most important values and conveying those in a way that makes them memorable. A phrase I would like to read/hear more often is “… which means that… ” to link the statistic to the context/explanation.

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