Data in Society: Challenging Statistics in an Age of Globalisation

Statistical data and evidence-based claims are increasingly central to our everyday lives. Critically examining ‘Big Data’, this book charts the recent explosion in sources of data, including those precipitated by global developments and technological change. It sets out changes and controversies related to data harvesting and construction, dissemination and data analytics by a range of private, governmental and social organisations in multiple settings. Analysing the power of data to shape political debate, the presentation of ideas to us by the media, and issues surrounding data ownership and access, the authors suggest how data can be used to uncover injustices and to advance social progress.

Table of Contents:
Book Introduction ~ Humphrey Southall, Jeff Evans and Sally Ruane; 1: How Data are Changing; Introduction ~ Humphrey Southall and Jeff Evans; Statistical work: the changing occupational landscape ~ Kevin McConway; The creation and use of big administrative data ~ Harvey Goldstein and Ruth Gilbert Data Analytics ~ Ifan Shepherd and Gary Hearne; Social Media Data ~ Adrian Tear and Humphrey Southall; 2: Counting in a Globalised world; Introduction ~ Sally Ruane and Jeff Evans; Adult Skills Surveys and Transnational Organisations: Globalising Educational Policy ~ Jeff Evans; Poverty and health care surveys in the Global South: Towards making valid estimates ~ Roy Carr-Hill; Counting the Population in Need of International Protection Globally ~ Brad Blitz, Alessio D’Angelo and Eleonore Kofman; Tax justice and the challenges of measuring illicit financial flows ~ Richard Murphy; 3: The Changing Role of the State; Introduction ~ Sally Ruane and Humphrey Southall; The control and ‘fitness for purpose’ of UK official statistics ~ David Rhind; The Statistics of Devolution ~ David Byrne; Welfare reform: national policies with local impacts ~ Christina Beatty and Steve Fothergill; Social insecurity and the changing role of the (welfare) state: Public perceptions, social attitudes and political action ~ Christopher Deeming and Ron Johnston; Access to data and NHS privatisation: reducing public accountability ~ Sally Ruane; 4: Economic Life; Introduction ~ Humphrey Southall, Sally Ruane and Jeff Evans; The ‘distribution question’: the role of statistical analysis in measuring and evaluating trends in inequality ~ Stewart Lansley; Labour market statistics ~ Paul Bivand; The financial system ~ Rebecca Boden; The difficulty of building comprehensive tax avoidance data ~ Prem Sikka; Tax and spend decisions: did austerity improve financial numeracy and literacy? ~ David Walker; 5: Inequalities in Health and Well-being; Introduction ~ Sally Ruane and Humphrey Southall; Health Divides ~ Anonymous; Measuring Social Wellbeing ~ Roy Carr-Hill; Re-engineering health policy research to measure equity impacts ~ Tim Doran and Richard Cookson; The Generation Game: Ending the phony information war between young and old ~ Jay Ginn and Neil Duncan-Jordan; 6: Advancing social progress through critical statistical literacy; Introduction ~ Jeff Evans, Humphrey Southall and Sally Ruane; The Radical Statistics Group: Using Statistics for Progressive Social Change ~ Jeff Evans and Ludi Simpson; Lyme disease politics and evidence-based policy-making in the UK ~ Kate Bloor; Counting the uncounted: contestations over casualisation data in Australian universities ~ Nour Dados, James Goodman and Keiko Yasukawa; The quantitative crisis in UK Sociology ~ Malcolm Williams, Luke Sloan and Charlotte Brookfield; Critical Statistical Literacy and Interactive Data Visualisations ~ Jim Ridgway, James Nicholson, Sinclair Sutherland and Spencer Hedger; Full Fact ~ Amy Sippitt; What a difference a dataset makes? Data journalism and/as data activism ~ Jonathan Gray and Liliana Bounegru; Book Epilogue .

About the Author :
Jeff Evans is Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Science and Technology at Middlesex University, UK. He researches the public understanding of statistics, and influences on adults' mathematical learning. Sally Ruane is Reader in Social Policy and the Director of the Health Policy Research Unit in the School of Applied Social Sciences at De Montfort University, UK. Humphrey Southall is Professor of Historical Geography at the University of Portsmouth, UK, and directs the Great Britain Historical GIS. He researches the origins of Britain's north-south divide and promotes public engagement with historical statistics.