Ways to identify relevant data

1. Ways to identify relevant data Term 2, 2011 Week 5

2. CONTENTS • Ways to identify relevant data • Suitability • Reliability • Accuracy • Timeliness • Freedom from bias • Vested interest • Timing • Small sample size • Bias through sorting • Bias through graphic representations • Know your audience • Gender • Special needs • Culture • Age • Education level • Status • Location • Questions

3. Ways to identify relevant data • To produce an effective solution, you must ensure data entered is error-free, correct and relevant. • To identify relevant data, you need to be able to assess the usability of the data and determine the characteristics of the targeted audience. • To be usable, data must possess the following properties: suitability, reliability, accuracy, timeliness and freedom from bias.

4. Suitability • Data entered must be in a suitable format. • Ensure data is the correct type when being collected and prepared for input. • E.g. If entering hours into a time sheet, it would need to be expressed as a number data type such as 40.0 rather than ‘forty’.

5. Reliability • Sources and data must be reliable. Unreliable sources of data will result in incorrect information which then may influence people in the wrong way.

6. Accuracy • Data that is entered must be accurate. • Transcription is usually the cause of errors. Transcription errors occur when someone makes a mistake when entering the data. Data entered should be checked against the source to ensure it is correct.

7. Timeliness • Data must be current to ensure the information presented is correct at the time and educates and influences people rightly.

8. Freedom from bias • Bias can become part of data and reduce the reliability of the information. • The following can contribute to bias in data: vested interest, timing, small sample size, bias through sorting, and bias through graphic representations.

9. Vested interest • If a respondent has a vested interest in the outcome of research, bias can enter the data (i.e. A celebrity who gets endorsement money for product-selling). • Sources are more reliable if they do not have personal reasons for the data provided.

10. Timing • Timing of data collection can also affect bias. • People’s opinions can be affected by current media issues, events etc.

11. Small sample size • Choosing a sample size which is too small can also affect bias. • Larger populations often lead to greater precision in data. It should be large enough that conclusions drawn and information presented is accurate for a significant group. It also needs to include views from all stakeholders.

12. Bias through sorting • Often unavoidable, as it frequently occurs without deliberate intentions of bias (i.e. School lists and Yellow Page entries being sorted alphabetically). • Difficult to avoid this bias, so it is best to educate the user to recognise this built-in bias.

13. Bias through graphic representations • Bias can occur through choice of graphic type, scale used and size chosen. Graphic representations should be sized proportionally. • If results are close (such as 1.12m and 1.13m), be sure to provide a scale which has a decreased scale to show distinct differences.

14. Know your audience • Ensure data from data set is appropriate for your audience. • Wide variations in target audience, but knowing who you are trying to appeal to will ensure your data is influential. • Factors to be considered include: gender, special needs, culture, age, education level, status and location.

15. Gender • Men prefer information to be factual and simple, with less detail. Women prefer more detailed information that is compared to several resources.

16. Special needs • Can apply to vision or hearing impairments, cognitive difficulties, age-related conditions etc. • There are many options for creating solutions to suit all of these (i.e. Larger font, images, audio as well as visual and so on).

17. Culture • Refers to the behaviour and attitudes of different groups of people. Information can enhance understanding between the different groups, can also cause tension. • In order for our solutions to cater for different cultures, need to consider using multiple languages. • Need to ensure that different cultures aren’t offended or alienated by the information.

18. Age • Age affects attention span. Adults and older children can retain attention and information for much longer than young children. • Main point of information should be presented at the beginning of the presentation.

19. Education level • If audiences have lower literacy levels, you will need to avoid jargon and provide basic details and more explanatory images. If they have high literacy skills, you are able to provide them with more explanatory statements and technical terms.

20. Status • Determined by someone’s position in society or an organisation. The more senior the role of the person, the more summarised the information should be. • The status of someone affects the language that should be used, and the images that should accompany the information.

21. Location • Remote audiences have different access to information sources and materials than suburban audiences. Therefore, you need to ensure the information given is accurate and provide alternative options if the audience needs to purchase things that may not be available remotely.

22. Questions • Create a table outlining the ways to identify relevant data, and providing a brief explanation of what each refers to.