Reading statistics: a guide for professionals working with domestic and family violence

• Statistical literacy is crucial for professionals working in the field of domestic and family violence, or for those who engage with domestic and family violence literature in their work.
• Practitioners and professionals with an understanding of statistics can determine what data is appropriate for their needs, assess data quality and limitations, critique data misuse, draw on statistical findings to inform their practice and include statistical analyses in their own research study design.
• Statistical data also provide valuable information to guide policy and program development, and inform evaluations of response effectiveness. For example, we can use statistical information to set benchmarks for rates of violence or intervention outcomes.
• In using and interpreting statistical data, we need to remain mindful that such information can be influenced by a range of factors, including the social and political context in which domestic violence occurs (such as typically low reporting and disclosure rates).
• Some of the most common statistical measures and terms used in quantitative research and explained in this Research and Practice brief include samples, variables, measures of central tendency, significance and regression analysis.