Nigel Marriott's Blog

An independent statistician using data to understand our world and to predict the future

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Stats Training Materials – Sampling & Surveys

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The core expertise that Statisticians offer to the world is drawing conclusions from small samples.  Therefore, knowing how to design surveys, estimate the right sample size, decide on the right way to ask the question or measure a property are all essential skills for any statistical thinker.  The skills you need to be competent in Sampling & Surveys are best captured by my Survey Wheel.

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UK Weather Trends #34 – Annual Temperatures in 2024

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The 2024 calendar year was the 4th hottest year on record in the UK.  Last year, I used a Control Chart to conclude “a step change upwards (in UK temperatures) has taken place but the pace of change is not yet clear“.  I am now less confident in my conclusion after updating with 2024 data, especially when I look at temperature trends based on the meteorological year of December to November instead.

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Pay Gap Trends #8A – Is a Smaller Pay Gap Good News?

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The gender pay gap in the UK continues to narrow in 2024.  The good news is the pay gap is narrowing at a faster rate since 2017 when Gender Pay Gap Reporting (GPGR) for employers become mandatory.  The bad news is women are not progressing up the pay scale and are working longer hours, men today are worse off than their fathers were 20 years ago and the smaller pay gap is simply the by-product of wage compression induced by above inflation rises in the minimum wage.  This is a sobering picture which tells me on balance, a smaller pay gap is not good news.

This article is part A of a 2-part blog.  Part B will be published at a later date.

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Trophy Winners #4 – The GOATs of World Snooker (Mens) – 1969 to 2024

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Judd Trump has won the 2024 UK Championship which is the 5th Triple Crown title of his career.  Does that make him a GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) in men’s Snooker?  Using the criteria I recommend in this article, Trump will become a GOAT if he wins another World Championship.

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Pay Gaps #31 – When is Equal Pay Day in 2024?

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When is #EqualPayDay in the UK in 2024?

No-one knows is the correct answer.  That’s because there are no national measurements of the extent of unequal pay in the UK e.g. a woman being paid less than a man for the doing the same job.

If you see anyone talking about “Equal Pay Day“, they are in fact talking about #GenderPayGapDay, the day on which the typical women “starts working for free” when compared with the typical man irrespective of what job they are doing.  Of course, as everyone knows, gender pay gaps do not measure the extent of unequal pay in any shape or form.

For 2024, the ONS (Office of National Statistics) has published 30 different gender pay gap statistics.  This means we could have 30 different gender pay gap days so how do we decide which one to use?

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