Citizen Data Scientists: Opportunities and Challenges
Institutional research offices continue to grow in importance and influence, as interest in institutional data and analytics expands across the sector. Much of this interest comes from individuals without specifically quantitative backgrounds in statistical or data science—administrators, communications and advancement professionals, managers, and others. Thanks to the availability of various analytical tools, more people than ever before are working with data, creating visualizations, and drawing “data-informed” conclusions. These are the emerging citizen data scientists. In this Impact session, we discuss the evolution of modern institutional research and the advent of citizen data scientists. What challenges and opportunities does this evolution present? We will suggest how Institutional Research professionals might support citizen data scientists in the service of better decision-making. Join us on a tour of data literacy, data culture and technological change. With cars. And jokes.
Data Visualization Forensics: Techniques to Detect and Debunk Data Deceptions
Data visualizations are increasingly prominent and influential. At the same time, they have become ever easier to create with the proliferation of tools like Excel and, of course, Tableau. Identifying data-driven deceptions (both accidental and intentional) is therefore an important part of data literacy and evidence-based reasoning. This presentation looks at several case studies, ranging from basic to tricky. Join us on this fun tour of how to detect deceptive data visualizations and learn useful techniques to decode and debunk them.