Defining the “sector percentage” of cancelled events

A data interpretation quiz for you all – if I said the “sector percentage” of 2019-20 full time first degree undergraduate students in receipt of the disabled student allowance was seven per cent, would you take this to mean:

• Seven percent of providers had 2019-20 full time first degree undergraduate students in receipt of DSA?
• Seven percent of 2019-20 full time first degree undergraduate students in UK higher education are in receipt of DSA?

It’s the first one, isn’t it? For reference 92 per cent of providers had 2019-20 full time first degree undergraduate students in receipt of DSA.

Data and storytelling

Both figures are useful, but each sends a different message. When you read 92 per cent you mentally parse that as “more than 9 in 10” or “pretty much everyone”. If I was writing about the need for all providers to offer suitable support to students with specific needs, I might use 92 per cent to push home the point that this also means you.

On the other hand, I might use seven per cent to highlight the low number of students claiming DSA. Nine per cent parses as “one in ten” or “a small but significant group” – if I was writing about students not claiming DSA when they would be eligible for it and could benefit from it I would say that a surprisingly low seven per cent of students currently claim it, comparing it to the fact that 32 per cent of secondary school students have special educational needs or disabilities.

Chilling effect

I use a serious issue to make light of a silly one. According to a new Office for Students report, the English “sector percentage” of “events/speaker requests rejected” in higher education settings has been six per cent for each of the last three years. Yes, that’s incidents (a “non-zero value” on the return) at six per cent of the English providers who responded to the question.

In the rational world where that is not what “sector percentage” means, the figures are 0.09 per cent of all events in 2017-18, 0.23 per cent in 2018-19, and 0.21 per cent in 2019-20. The problem with these figures (accurately reported by registered providers in compliance with regulatory framework condition F3).

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