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School league tables : On More or Less this week we looked at the value added tables for secondary schools published this week. Our question is do they really show which schools add most value? And... if they do not, what is the point? If you want to know how much value a school adds, the method seems simple. Find out how good children are at age 11, compare that to how good they are at age 16, and then compare whatever improvement there has been to that in other schools. But the way it is done at present suggests that the comparison may not tell you anything. Life expectancy : Also this week, the debate about whether left-handedness is associated with dying younger. Babies : And if you have already had two boys, or two girls, but rather fancy a bit more variety, what are the chances that your next child will be different? One figure you can find easily on the web is that if you have already had two of a kind the chance the third one will be the same is 70%. Is it true? 'Bad numbers' : Plus an essay by Joel Best, author of Damned Lies and Statistics, on whether the bad numbers that seem to flourish in the news are really the result of lying.
School league tables : On More or Less this week we looked at the value added tables for secondary schools published this week. Our question is do they really show which schools add most value? And... if they do not, what is the point? If you want to know how much value a school adds, the method seems simple. Find out how good children are at age 11, compare that to how good they are at age 16, and then compare whatever improvement there has been to that in other schools. But the way it is done at present suggests that the comparison may not tell you anything. Life expectancy : Also this week, the debate about whether left-handedness is associated with dying younger. Babies : And if you have already had two boys, or two girls, but rather fancy a bit more variety, what are the chances that your next child will be different? One figure you can find easily on the web is that if you have already had two of a kind the chance the third one will be the same is 70%. Is it true? 'Bad numbers' : Plus an essay by Joel Best, author of Damned Lies and Statistics, on whether the bad numbers that seem to flourish in the news are really the result of lying.
| Series: | More or less |
|---|---|
| Episode | 5 |
| First transmission date: | 2006-01-19 |
| Published: | 2006 |
| Rights Statement: | Rights owned or controlled by The Open University |
| Restrictions on use: | This material can be used in accordance with The Open University conditions of use. A link to the conditions can be found at the bottom of all OU Digital Archive web pages. |
| Duration: | 00:27:32 |
| + Show more... | |
| Producer: | Michael Blastland |
| Presenter: | Andrew Dilnot |
| Contributors: | Joel Best; A. W Dilnot |
| Publisher: | BBC Open University |
| Subject terms: | Mathematical statistics; Social sciences--Statistical methods |
| Production number: | AUDA046B |
| Available to public: | no |
