Leicester PPI for Statisticians
How do you explain statistical methodology!? with University of Leicester.
Motion-Fox
Challenge
How do you explain statistical methodology to mere mortals?! And not only that, make it so understandable and interesting, that members of the public want to be involved in research!?
This was the ‘wicked problem’ that Laura presented to Nifty. She needed a simple, visual and accessible way to explain what she did as a statistical methodologist, and how and why public contributors could get involved with her research. Laura is pioneering the public patient involvement and engagement agenda for statistical methodology internationally.
Solution
We worked with Laura, her research team and a group of public contributors to make statistical methodology as comprehensible as possible. Nifty hosted a discovery session that brought together all stakeholders, and Director Laura (another one!) facilitated the group to co-create a script that made sense together.
Using the metaphor of ‘using the right tool for the job’, we created an illustrated animation that explains in two minutes what Professor Laura and her team do. Public contributors were involved every step of the way - feeding into the script, design approach, storyboard and voiceover.
(Psst - statistical methodologists explore the right WAY to look at an analyse data. In other words, choosing the right tool to dig a hole, not dig the hole itself!).
Result
The animation was received overwhelmingly positively! It became a feature in a published journal article in Biomed Central’s Research Involvement and Engagement, and led to the NIHR funding Laura to work with us on follow up projects to showcase PPI in statistical methodology case studies, teach statistical methodologists how to use storytelling for engagement, and explore equality, diversity and inclusion in the discipline.
The animation was also seen by colleagues at Genomics England, who are subsequently working with Nifty to explain genetic research simply. Wish us luck ;)!
Working with Laura and the team at Nifty Fox has been revolutionary for our research into how to conduct meaningful PPI for statistical methodology research, Laura was able to grasp what we were struggling to achieve quickly and proposed imaginative solutions, which worked! We have had great feedback from our public contributors on our animation NF created, this project has spurred us on to use more creative ways of getting our messages across to a diverse audience.
Professor Laura Gray, University of Leicester
Ready to tell your story visually?
