BBC Lab UK - About the Big Risk Test

Risk is a very complex subject. We all take risks every day and in virtually every area of our lives. If you can’t predict with absolute certainty what will happen when you make a choice, you are taking a risk.

Whether it’s deciding not to carry an umbrella on a cloudy day, or choosing what type of treatment to have for a potentially life-threatening illness, we all make countless and often complex decisions about risk all the time. Sometimes these decisions can have a major impact on the path our lives take.

Today, researchers all over the world are investigating the many aspects of risk and risk-taking behaviour. Similarly, with the Big Risk Test we want to try and answer some challenging questions about how people manage risk, and understand why people have such different opinions and feelings about the risks they choose to take.

Feelings about risk

We want to know how you feel about a variety of hazards, including things that affect you individually, as well as bigger issues, such as climate change, that affect the whole of society. We are not looking for right or wrong answers here, rather we are interested in people’s emotional response to risk.

Knowledge of risk

Do you know how risky scuba diving is compared to riding a motorbike? Or how likely it is that your flight will be delayed, or you will fail your driving test? In contrast to your feelings about risk, these questions do have right and wrong answers. We want to know what influences our ability to assess the scale of risks accurately.

Understanding risk

Risks can be communicated in a wide variety of ways, for example, by using words, numbers and pictures. We want to know which methods people find easiest to understand, and which ones help them to remember information most effectively. The better the method of communication, the more informed our decisions will be, and this is particularly important when it comes to issues like health.

Does mathematical ability affect the decisions we make?

Risk behaviour

When confronted with a choice between a fairly safe option and a slightly riskier one, which do you take? Do you believe in luck and does it influence your attitude to risk-taking? In the Big Risk Test, we look at when you take more chances, when you play it safe, and what factors affect your decisions.

Calculating risk

Risks are often presented in terms of mathematical concepts, such as percentages and probabilities. We hope to find out how confidence with numbers might influence our ability to calculate risk.

Appetite for risk

There are many different kinds of risk. Taking a chance on a financial investment is a fundamentally different activity to parachuting out of an aeroplane, but they are still both ‘risky’. But just because you thrive on one type of risk, doesn’t mean you thrive on all types. We’d like to find out in which areas of your life you are most comfortable taking risks, and whether there is a relationship between the type of person you are and the sort of risks you are prepared to take.

As you can see, risk is a complex and fascinating area. We hope that by getting as many people to take part in the Big Risk Test as possible we can begin to unlock the answers to some really important questions, and ultimately help people make better decisions about some of the issues that affect their chances in life.

Take the Big Risk Test

Professor David Spiegelhalter is the University of Cambridge Winton Professor for the Public Understanding of Risk and a senior scientist at the Medical Research Council Biostatistics Unit. Dr Mike Aitken is a lecturer in the Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge.