Communicating statistics and analysis

This page provides a central space to bring together guidance and support for improving the communication and accessibility of data, statistics, and analysis across government.

The page is managed by the Analysis Function Central Team, who work with analysts across government.

There is lots of information on this page and on our guidance pages, so it can be useful to use the Find Tool (use shortcut Ctrl + f) if you are looking for a specific topic.

Guidance

All our guidance can be found on our guidance hub. Topics include:

Charts

Data visualisation: charts

Accompanying resources we have created:

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E-learning

Data visualisation e-learning

This is an introductory level course we have designed for anyone who creates data visualisations for internal or external communications.

It is publicly available on this website and gives an introduction to standard charts used in statistical and analytical publications. It is based on our tables, charts, colours and accessibility guidance.

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Networks

The Analysis Function Central Team help manage and regularly contribute to knowledge sharing across government through a range of networks.

Basecamps are online spaces with a message board where you can ask questions and share ideas. There are also areas to share documents and advertise events.

Presentation and Dissemination of Statistics and Analysis

Please email analysis.function@ons.gov.uk to ask for an invite link to be sent.

All departments should have a Government Statistical Service (GSS) presentation and web dissemination champion. These champions should be able to help you find out more about communicating statistics and analysis in your department.

Read more about the GSS presentation champion network.

Read more about the GSS dissemination champion network.

The GOV.UK Accessibility Community is a group where you can ask questions about accessibility, develop your knowledge, and get or give advice and support.

Instructions for joining the accessibility community discussion group can be found on the Accessibility Community page on GOV.UK

The team are part of, and contribute to the UK Government Digital Slack.

Useful channels for communicating analysis include: #accessiblity, #content and #design.

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Videos and blogs

Transcript of video including audio description (DOC, 113KB).

We will be adding correctly edited subtitling to this video soon.

Materials from the “Making charts accessible” session delivered as part of DataConnect22. These materials include the recording, slides, plain text version of slides and question and answer session.

Download a transcript of the session on making spreadsheets accessible (ODT, 49KB).

Materials from the “Making spreadsheets accessible” session delivered as part of Analysis in Government Month 2022. These materials include the recording, transcript and useful links.


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Communicating analysis drop in clinics

Important Announcement: Changes to our drop-in clinics

There have been some important changes regarding the Analysis Function’s fortnightly Accessibility drop-in clinics. These clinics have provided GSS professionals with valuable guidance on making their statistical products more accessible, and in compliance with accessibility legislation.

Due to recent staff departures and recruitment constraints at ONS and the GSS, it is now increasingly challenging to maintain the frequency and quality of these clinics. Therefore, unfortunately we are discontinuing these clinics.

We want to assure you that this decision does not reflect a diminished commitment to accessibility in statistics. We remain committed to updating and promoting our Analysis Function accessibility guidance, and supporting our Accessibility community discussions. We are currently exploring alternative ways to support you in this area and will keep you updated on any new developments.

We welcome your feedback on how we can support you through this service transition. Please feel free to reach out with your thoughts and concerns. Thank you for your understanding. We look forward to finding new ways to support you in your professional development.

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External resources

Best practice for communicating analysis and accessibility are vast topics and there are lots of free external resources available which contain useful guidance and learning.

Data visualisations

Fundamentals of Data Visualization by Claus O. Wilke – This book provides a broad range of guidance on best practice data visualisation. It includes some more complex data visualisation types which are not covered in our guidance.

‌However, please note the contents does not align to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) so we would recommend double checking the Analysis Function guidance before publishing.

Best Practices for Data Visualisation from the Royal Statistical Society – This page has lots of guidance around the fundamentals for creating data visualisations and is referenced throughout. It includes a sections on ‘Principles and elements of visualisations’ and ‘Styling charts for accessibility’.

However, please note it does not refer to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) so we would recommend double checking the Analysis Function guidance before publishing.

Chartability – This website can be useful to help you do self audits of charts. It also includes links to useful examples of WCAG key principles and other research.

Accessibility

Presenting data from the ONS Service Manual – guidance for creating charts and tables to publish on the Office for National Statistics (ONS) website.

Evergreen Data – has some really good resources and an excellent blog.

Data visualisation in R or Python – The Data Science Campus

Please note it is only available to those badged to a government analytical profession.

Data Visualisation Thinking – Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)

This is a useful resource on how to approach creating data visualisations.

Please note active content within this resource has been removed.

Exploring data: graphs and numerical summaries– Open university

This is a free e-learning course that could take up to 20 hours to complete.

It gives an introduction to summarising data and provides statistical definitions and activities to practise.

Please note some equations are images so may not be visible to screen reader software.

Communicating Science and Engineering Advice – Government Science & Engineering (GSE)

This 2 hour course is available on Civil Service Learning. Module 2 – Communicating science and engineering advice provides further learning on data visualisations methods.

If you do not have access to Civil Service Learning, please complete the GSE Courses FutureLearn Sign Up form, using your work email address. The team will then send you enrolment details within three working days.

There is a wide range of support and guidance available online to help understand user needs and how we can make our content understood by as many people as possible. If you want a better understanding of access needs, you might find the following resources useful:

There are many tools for accessibility available. Here we have just shared a few free tools used by the team. Note you may need to ask your IT department to download this tool onto your computer.

Wave Google Chrome extension – a plug-in which allows you to do a quick accessibility check on webpages.

Hemmingway Editor – use to check reading level and hard to read sentences. Do not use with pre-release data!

WebAIMs Contrast Checker – an online tool which can tell you if colours pass or fail WCAG criterion.

WebAIMs link contrast checker – an online tool to check if colours used for hyperlinks pass or fail WCAG criterion.

NVDA – a free screen reader software you can download.

Microsoft Accessibility Checker –  Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint have a built-in accessibility checker which can be useful for spotting some common accessibility issues and providing advice on how to fix them.

We wanted to share some interesting ways to communicate analysis that we have come across for inspiration.

Remember to check the Analysis Function guidance hub before publishing to check your designs are following best practice.

We love to see examples of presenting data in different ways. If you have done something different, please share it with us so we can add it to this page. Email us at Analysis.Function@ons.gov.uk.

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Contact details

For general questions about communicating statistics, please email Analysis.Function@ons.gov.uk

You can also keep up to date with Analysis Function news and events on X (formally Twitter), follow @gov_analysis

We always welcome feedback on our guidance. Please email us or use the feedback forms on the guidance pages to let us know what you think.

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