The Big Risk Test

I came across the BBC Lab UK recently in connection with following up some articles and discussions on risk.

The BBC Lab provides an opportunity for anyone to take part in generating ‘groundbreaking’ science. It was launched in 2009 and since then has launched a series of major experiments that can only work with a very large number of participants.

The aim of the Lab is to:

Create new knowledge
Use approved scientific methods
Be secure and anonymous
Contribute to learning
Always publish findings

Regarding the last item, here’s an example of a recent publication in a peer reviewed journal, the BBC well-being scale.

The topic of risk which originally caught my attention, The Big Risk Test, covers:

Feelings about risk
Knowledge of risk
Understanding risk
Risk behaviour
Calculating risk
Appetite for risk

It aims to be the biggest study of risk ever undertaken!

Risk is obviously an important concept as it permeates our personal as well as professional lives, although often in very different guises, so getting a broad overview will be interesting and hopefully very illuminating.

Here’s a short video on risk featuring Prof David Spiegelhalter who is the designer (with Dr Mike Aitken) of the experiment.