Florence Nightingale: How She Used, Managed and Explained Data for the Public Good

• Activity Number: 466 - Contemporary Statistical Graphics: Methods and Applications
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Thursday, August 6, 2020 : 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM
• Sponsor: Social Statistics Section
• Author(s): Noel-Ann Bradshaw*
• Companies: London Metropolitan University
• Keywords: Nightingale; Mortality rate; Sanitary conditions; Data management; Data visualization; Working class

Abstract

Florence Nightingale is well known in Statistical and Mathematical circles for her general contribution to statistics and her visualisation of data using polar area diagrams. Born 200 years ago this year, the details of her work are less well known. Nightingale’s understanding of data and statistics contributed greatly to reducing the mortality rate in the British army and improving the health and sanitary conditions for the working classes in many parts of the UK and India. She was involved in discussions on the best way to employ data to measure nursing efficiency, and provided advice to life insurance societies on sample sizes. Citing quotations from her written reports, pamphlets and correspondence, this paper demonstrates the extent of her knowledge on the correct usage, management and storage of data, highlighting many issues that are still applicable today. It also provides examples of the calculations that she corrected, displaying the extent of her general frustration with Victorian officials’ misuse of numbers.