Joel Best identifies what is essential about numbers or statistics:

• Every statistic is socially constructed in the most operational sense of that term. 

• The social construction of statistics does not imply malevolence, negligence or even opportunism. 

• The social construction of statistics goes beyond chance, bias and confounding.  

• Seeing that all statistics are socially constructed is essential to being statistically literate. 

Professor Best is concerned about the future of statistical literacy in higher education. 
To see why, read the final chapter -- Toward Statistical Literacy -- in his latest book.

Papers

• Birds -- Dead and Dying: Why Numeracy Needs to Address Social Construction by Joel Best (2008), Numeracy, Vol. 1, Issue 1, Article 6.
  Abstract: Sociologists use the term social construction to refer to the processes by which people assign meaning to their world. This paper argues that numeracy education needs to address social construction. In particular, thinking critically about the statistics the news media report regarding social issues requires understanding the competitive nature of the social problems marketplace, and the social forces that allow questionable numbers to receive widespread public attention. Such critiques must incorporate more than assessing how the numbers were calculated; they must consider the social construction of particular statistics. Two recent examples—claims about the number of birds killed flying into windows, and warnings about the threat of an avian flu pandemic—are presented to illustrate the need to incorporate social construction into numeracy education.
• Including Construction in Quantitative Literacy by Joel Best, 3/2007, Midwest Sociological Society
• People Count: The Social Construction of Statistics by Joel Best, 11/2002 Talk at Augsburg College. More on future of Statistical Literacy.
• People Count: The Social Construction of Statistics by Joel Best, 8/2002 ASA JSM

• Telling the Truth About Damned Lies and Statistics by Joel Best, 5/2001 Chronicle of Higher Education  Print version