Did the 2011 Australian Census get religion right?

humansindesign:

The results for the 2011 Australian census came out today.  We think the results of the religion question were (unintentionally) distorted by the design of the question.  Specifically, with believe that the number of Australians who are not religious is greater than the number counted as ‘no religion’. 

Counting correctly is important because census results will be used, at least to some degree, when making public policy decisions where religion is involved.  The question was formatted like this:

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reported the religious affiliation results in a table.  On the surface, it seems that ‘no religion’ continued to get a bump.  However, there was something hidden.  The bottom of the table listed 100%.  However, it had an annotation that that total…

“…includes inadequately described (supplementary codes) religions and people who did not state a religion.”

Strangely, there is not a row in the chart that lists how large this group is.  We ran the numbers.  Turns out it’s almost 1 in 10 people and the 4th largest group:

If a quarter of those people were actually not religious, for the first time ‘no religion’ would be the largest group on the Australian Census.  If you’re a strong adherent to a religion we think it would be unlikely you’d leave that question blank.

In a previous post we criticised the design of this question.  The core of our argument was that the design reduces 2 question into 1 and hides no religion question down the bottom.  This could partially explain the large ‘inadequate’ and ‘blank’ responses. It was for this reason that we proposed some alternate designs which we put to a public vote.  Our final proposed redesign is revealed for the first time below:  

This is not about activism, but appropriate measurement. Accurate measurement in the census is important.  We think there is no malice involved from the ABS, but their design has promoted error that works against the ‘no religion’ option. Australia has changed and the design of the census does not reflect that.

Keep reading to hear our full story and proposal to the ABS.

Hit us on twitter @humansindesign or in the comments with your response.

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12 months ago  /  28 notes  /  Source: humansindesign

Ozymandias

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desart. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

1 year ago  /  0 notes

The You Look Nice Today Starter Pack

youlooknicetoday:

Welcome to this annotated introduction to You Look Nice Today, A Journal of Emotional Hygiene.

To acquaint yourself (or a special friend) with our program, we invite you to download and enjoy six of our favorite episodes:

DOWNLOAD: “You Look Nice Today Starter Pack” (127 MB zip file)

This officially-sanctioned Starter Pack includes: “Sacks-Minnelli Disease,” “Truck Spank,” “The Tux Age,” “OPN♥WDE,” “Expressed as a Vest,” and “The Good Part”

Also, please do feel free to explore further into the YLNT franchise by browsing the links below and by subscribing to our program for free via RSS or iTunes. New episodes of the program are posted on the second of each month.

It’s a start.

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(via youlooknicetoday)

1 year ago  /  239 notes  /  Source: i-0.us