Each day important decisions are made on the basis of statistics. Sound judgment relies on sound data. So what is it that makes the difference between a “good” statistic and a “bad” one? How can you “enhance the usability” of the information you are providing to others? “Good” does not refer to whether the story the data tells is positive or negative. Rather, being “good” is all about quality.

• The data is still applicable
• An appropriate method was chosen to collect the information
• There is openness about anything that might influence interpretation
• Care was taken to minimize any errors in both the collection process and the presentation of the data.

NAPO seeks submissions that are complete and relate to the professional organizing industry. NAPO desires to capture interesting information and trends. NAPO does NOT expect everyone to be statisticians. NAPO seeks fun, useful facts that can be used to educate the public and promote the professional organizing industry.

• Type of submission (fact, quote, or statistic)
• Title of the article or report where the submission was found
• Publication or periodical in which it was published
• Publication URL
• Date the article was published
• Submitter’s full name
• Submitter’s email address
• Submitter’s phone number

If you are publishing statistics, you can increase usability by providing supporting information that shows: an appropriate method was chosen to collect the information, care was taken to minimize any errors in both the collection process and the presentation of the data, and there is openness about anything that might influence interpretation.

Not only will this approach give your readers a better chance of understanding and following your argument, it will also enhance your credibility because you clearly don’t need to hide behind “dodgy” statistics. Credibility is invaluable in this competitive world; it leads to trust, which is crucial to attract and maintain customers.

Search on topics related to organizing…you may want to use the NAPO Statistics Database categories as a starting point.

Start your search with one of the following phrases…and then fill-in your topic of interest.

    “Facts on …”
    “Statistics on …”
    “Quotes on …”
    “Studies on …”

You may also want to conduct the same search on a variety of search engines to see if the results vary. Popular search engines include: Google, Bing, and Yahoo.

Another way to find new quotes is to visit the websites of those organizations most likely to conduct primary research on your topics of interest. These organizations may range from government agencies that update a wide variety of statistics on an annual basis, to companies that design and/or sell products used to help people get organized, to professional trade associations in related areas that provide industry statistics. Once on the website, check for "Press Releases" that cite results of recent studies, and look for web pages that provide links to research reports. You may also want to do a local search for specific topics of interest.

Don’t stop there! Just because you find an interesting quote on what seems to be a respectable website, doesn’t mean that the quote, and/or references are accurate. Next, you should validate that the quote, fact, or statistic is authentic and truly the work of the author. You should also check the dates, sources, other related references, etc.

One way to do this is to do a search on the exact text of the quote, fact, or statistic, by putting quotation marks around the text and see what comes up. What you want to look for is the actual source of the text, not just another person or website quoting the same information.