Medienmitteilung

Swiss Days of Official Statistics 2018 Swiss Days of Official Statistics 2018: Statistics and emotions - a strange alliance?

The Swiss Statistics Meeting is the big event on the statistics scene. This year it is being held from 27-29 August at the University of Zurich under the motto “Statistics and emotions", providing official statistics specialists, private industry and academics with a platform for discussions and networking. As a run up to this year's event, a hackathon will take place, during which participants will develop innovative visualisations and web applications using open government data. The statistical offices of both the canton and city of Zurich will also be celebrating their 150th and 125th anniversaries.

Are leaders in politics and industry led astray by their emotions and therefore more likely to rely on their gut instinct than on proven facts? And if so, how? These questions will be central to the discussions taking place. Because: How important are statistics today, when decision makers seem not to care whether facts are true or not?

What emotions do surveys or statistical results trigger among the public? What biases and resentments exist compared with fact-based statistics? Over three days, a mix of plenary meetings and topic-based workshops are programmed, in which the conference theme will be discussed further.

A host of speakers

All participants can look forward to hearing the first-class speakers invited to this year's event. The Swiss Days of Official Statistics 2018 will be opened by Anja Wyden Guelpa, former Chancellor of the Canton of Geneva (Monday, 10.45). She will be followed by the business writer, Rolf Dobelli, best known as the author of “The Art of Thinking Clearly" and “The Art of the Good Life (Monday, 15.50), by Andrew Gelman the world-renowned statistics expert and blogger, famous for his Bayesian analyses (Tuesday, 15.30), and Jacqueline Badran, member of the national council for Zurich, with her “Travel report from a politician through the world of figures" (Wednesday, 11.00).

The full programme for the Swiss Statistics Meeting 2018 can be found under «Additional Links»

Public ceremony on Monday

Jacqueline Fehr, Councillor of the Canton of Zurich, and Corine Mauch, Mayoress of Zurich, will lead the official speeches as part of the public ceremony for the statistical offices of the canton and city of Zurich, with Ms Mauch participating via video conference (Monday, 17.30 and 17.45).

The ceremony is part of the anniversary celebrated by the Statistics Office Zurich and the Statistical Office Canton of Zurich in 2018. The Statistics Office Zurich was founded 125 years ago, while 2018 marks the 150th anniversary of the Statistical Office Canton of Zurich. Both statistical offices produce valuable and impartial statistical information and provide diverse services for the population, politics, the administration and the economy that are of crucial importance.

Experimental statistics open up publication boundaries

The Federal Statistical Office (FSO) also has cause for celebration. As part of the Swiss Statistics Meeting, the FSO will present its new “experimental statistics" website. This will start with the publication of employment data using small area estimation methods applied to structural survey data. Employment data for communes containing at least 100 people in the 2012-2014 structural survey data pool can be published. The application of these methods using a model-based approach will enable publication boundaries to be expanded in relation to classic sampling methods.

Furthermore, various pilot projects have been launched in the area of the FSO's data innovation strategy. The pilot projects are also possible candidates for publication on the FSO's experimental statistics microsite.

Broad support base in the organisation

The Swiss Statistics Meeting 2018 is organised by the Statistical Office Canton of Zurich, the Statistics Office Zurich, the Swiss Statistical Society (SSS), the Swiss Conference of Regional Statistical Offices (CORSTAT) and the FSO. Media representatives are welcome at any time - we look forward to your visit!

You will find further information in the PDF below.