From 2009 to 2014 John was the Strategic Advisor to the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) on quantitative methods training overseeing the genesis and launch of the Q-Step programme. From 2015 to 2020 he was Strategic Advisor to the British Academy on Quantitative skills and a member of the British Academy's High Level Strategy group on Quantitative Skills. John is a Chartered Statistician and was Vice President (Professional Affairs) of the Royal Statistical Society 2019-20. He has held research grants from the European Commission, UK ESRC, British Academy, Leverhulme trust and British, Spanish and Catalan government departments.

Section 1: Why is most data numerical data?
Section 2: What is the average, level or central tendency of data?
Section 3: What is the spread or dispersion of data?
Section 4: How do I understand the data in a graph?
Section 5: What are the five main kinds of graphs?
Section 6: What is scientific notation?
Section 7: How can I use and interpret numbers in data well?