Data Critique Assignment

Due: Tuesday February 12

Approx. 500 words.

Select one sample data set. You may optionally complete this assignment in a team of two.

Your post should explain what information is in your dataset, what kind of events, people, or phenomena your dataset describes, and what it cannot describe.  You might use databasic.io or a spreadsheet filter to get an idea of what kind of data you’re working with.  What is the scope of your data temporally, geographically, in number of records, or in other dimensions?

As best you’re able to determine, you should also describe how the data was generated, what the original sources were, how the data was collected, and how your data is divided.  What is an individual record row?  How is the data divided into columns and why?  If this dataset were your only source, what kind of information would be left out?

Your team should complete this assignment by creating a post in the “Data Critiques” category. If you complete this assignment as a team, each team member needs to do a team assignment evaluation.

Adapted from Miriam Posner’s Data Critique.