Education Statistics

Statistics are used to:

• provide a description
  • answering the question about the scale or scope of something observable and its characteristics
• make a comparison
  • establishing the degree of similarity or dissimilarity among observables
• identify a relationship
  • looking at the correlation among characteristics of observables; how things are related

Attributes that you should be looking for when evaluating your statistics:

1. Relevence
   - How does the statistic reflect the needs of its clients and user
2. Accuracy
   - Does the statistic accurately define the phenomenon that it was trying to measure?
3. Timeliness
   - How long is the delay between the data gathering phase and the publishing phase?
4. Accessibility
   - How findable is the statistic? Is it behind a pay wall?
5. Interpretability
   - How much available documentation comes with the statistic? Definition? Data gathering methodology?
6. Coherence
   - Does the statistic successfully verify similiar surveys?

Finding statistics is not easy.  There are generally two approaches, which are often used in combination with each other.

Publisher Strategy: identify an organization that would produce and publish such a statistic. Knowledge of government structure, areas of jurisdication and context is key.

Data Strategy: identify a data source from which the statistics were derived.

image credit: Chuck Humphrey, Data Library Coordinator, University of Alberta

Official Statistics: produced by government bodies (such as Statistics Canada) and some international or inter-governmental agencies (such as the U.N.)

Non-Offical Statistics: produced by other bodies, including trade associations, professional organizations, banks, consultants, marketing companies, academic institutions, etc

Surveys: deliberately requested information.

Administrative Records: statistics generated by doing regular business