Open Tech Calendar

Skeptics on the Fringe Presents:

Dr Sarah Berry - How do we know which statistics we can trust?

As a biostatistician I often rail against the news headlines, particularly in relation to health. We are variously told that alcohol is good for us/bad for us, bacon will give us cancer, rice will poison us, screen time will turn our children into monsters…. It can be difficult to know how to interpret all of these messages and how to apply them to our lives. I will take a look at a few recent headlines and try and tease out the detail behind the sensationalism. I will offer up some tools that we can all use to critically appraise health research in the news.

Sarah Barry is a Lecturer in Statistics at the University of Strathclyde. She has worked as a biostatistician designing and analysing clinical trials, complex interventions, observational studies and linkage of administrative datasets in a wide range of medical areas, including physical and mental health, early years development and allocation of funds to NHS health boards. She is passionate about interpretation and communication of science and statistics, particularly to people with no background in statistics. She frequently finds herself shouting at the radio when statistics are being poorly communicated or misrepresented.

Twitter - @sarahjebarry
www.strath.ac.uk

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