Statistical briefings

This series of statistical briefings sets out the statistical methods used to analyse the PSE data, including the reasons behind the choice of tests used, the detail checks made on the reliability of the data and the harmonisation of the datasets from the surveys conducted by NatCen in Great Britain and those conducted by NISRA in Northern Ireland. The series also provides short statistical analyses on key variables in the two PSE surveys. 

The views expressed in these statistical notes working papers are those of the author(s). The papers are published under the Creative Commons licence and you may copy and distribute them as long as the creative commons licence is retained and attribution given to the original author(s).

Statistical note list

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Statistical briefings

Author/s:
David Gordon

This statistical briefing note explains the research behind the BBC1 Panorama programme 'Too poor to stay warm' broadcast on 21 March, 2016. The programme highlighted the problems of fuel poverty in the UK and was based on calculations produced by the PSE project team. This outlines how the results, discussed in the programme, were produced.

Author/s:
Demi Patsios and Shailen Nandy

This statistical briefing note compares differences between Great Britain and Northern Ireland in items reported as ‘necessary’ using the harmonised UK Omnibus dataset. Heat maps and relative risk ratio calculations were carried out separately for all adult and child items and activities. No major differences are apparent between respondents.

Author/s:
David Gordon, Shailen Nandy and Demi Patsios

The statistical briefing examines the implications of a programming error that resulted in higher than expected amounts of missing data in the ‘sort card’ sample of the June 2012 Northern Ireland Omnibus Necessities Module. It concludes that the missing data can be considered to be MAR (Missing At Random) and they are ignorable for analyses of the proportion of respondents considering an item or activity to be a necessity as long as both the missing data and the don’t knows are excluded from the numerator and denominator i.e. if the don’t knows are set to ‘missing’.

Author/s:
Demi Patsios, Shailen Nandy and David Gordon
This statistical briefing sets out the harmonisation that was carried out to ensure that there was comparability between NatCen and NISRA Omnibus surveys in the following areas: necessities; household membership and composition; socio-demographic variables; additional variables from Omnibus surveys in GB and NI; and sample and population weightings.
 
Author/s:
David Gordon

How can we tell whether any differences between different groups, such as men and women, in their attitudes to necessities is down to chance or not? This statistical note explains why the PSE team uses 'relative risk' rather than 'hypothesis testing'.

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