Statistical storytelling

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Skranefjell, Anne^{; *} | Tønnessen, Marianne

Affiliations: Statistics Norway, Oslo, Norway

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author: Anne Skranefjell, P.O. Box 8131, N-0033 Oslo, Norway. Tel.: +47 21 09 46 14; E-mail: anne.skranefjell@ssb.no

Abstract: It is a duty for a National Statistical Office to make sure people understand the statistics and find them useful. To make sure the statistical information is understandable, relevant and interesting to as many people as possible, there is a lot to learn from exploring new ways of telling people about figures. Telling stories is definitely not a new tradition, but for statisticians there might be a lot to learn from this craft, because people remember good stories better than only a rattling up of facts. Therefore, the text that comes with statistical figures should not merely repeat what the figures say. The text should take the opportunity to relate the statistics to people's everyday life and to the way they look upon the world, in order to make people feel smart, not stupid, after having read it. Statistics Norway has been making figures for more than 125 years. In the last ten years, the focus has slightly turned towards adding meaningful words to the figures.

DOI: 10.3233/SJU-2003-20105

Journal: Statistical Journal of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 51-54, 2003