BBC College of Journalism Blog - A vigorous and robust discussion about journalism from every perspective.

Respect numbers:

During the rest of July and August, I'll be using this spot on the College homepage to offer about a dozen tips - the really important stuff you need to think about as a journalist ... no matter where you work or the platform you work on.

I'll obviously be pointing to some of the learning here on the website, starting with an unashamed plug for our new 'Journalism With Numbers' course with Michael Blastland.

Those of you who've been to one of Michael's masterclasses - and they're one of the most popular elements of the Journalism Foundation Scheme that the College runs for new BBC joiners - will know how often journalists fall into one or more number traps.

So, given that this is an unashamed plug for a new course, here are three tips for the price of one:

1. Check every number in your piece at least three times; and get a colleague to look over them too.

I once built a TV graphic of an opinion poll with the Labour and Conservative figures transposed - since it was a) during an election campaign b) the second-last poll of that campaign and c) the lead item on News at Ten, this was, arguably, quite important.

Even when an irritated editor pointed out my error (the following day, incidentally; no-one in the gallery noticed at the time), it took me ages to see what was wrong and that the numbers on the screen didn't match those in my script.

2. Understand averages - and how an average isn't the same as 'the middle' or 'most'. It's usually the variations from the average that are more interesting than the average itself.

3. Test big numbers - ask yourself whether any number you come across that looks big, especially in government spending, really is big.

A plan to spend £600 million per annum on a UK-wide policy affecting everyone works out at £10 per person per year. That's a lot if the policy is free chocolate; it's not much if it's a grant to everyone to start their own health insurance plan.

Watch a Michael Blastland masterclass on 'Polls and Statistics'.