Statistical Assessment Service

Statistical Assessment Service

Legal status	Non-profit
Headquarters	Washington, D.C, United States
President	S. Robert Lichter
Parent organization	George Mason University
Affiliations	Center for Media and Public Affairs
Website	http://stats.org/

Statistical Assessment Service (STATS) is a non-profit educational organization, based in Washington, DC, which analyzes and critiques the presentation of scientific findings and statistical evidence in the news media. STATS is a project of Sense About Science USA

STATS was founded in 1994 by S. Robert Lichter, a professor of communications at George Mason University. According to the organization's website, to which it posts the majority of its research, its goal is to help correct "scientific misinformation in the media resulting from bad science, politics, or a simple lack of information or knowledge; and to act as a resource for journalists and policy makers on major scientific issues and controversies". As Lichter related to the Baltimore Sun in 1998, "journalists are deluged with numbers representing findings in fields they're not familiar with". Its sister organization is the Center for Media and Public Affairs, also affiliated with George Mason.

Lichter serves as the organization's president. Other personnel include director of research Rebecca Goldin, a professor of mathematical sciences at George Mason and the Ruth Michler Fellow at Cornell University, and STATS.org editor Trevor Butterworth, who is also listed as a senior fellow, and writes for the Huffington Post. As of 2010^[update], other senior fellows include Maia Szalavitz, a contributor to Reason magazine, and Stephen Rose. The first director of STATS was David Murray, who previously worked for the Heritage Foundation and was later chief scientist for the United States Office of National Drug Control Policy. STATS is now a project of Sense About Science USA