A Date with Data — Issue 11
It’s Tuesday, and this your weekly date with data! Here are the stories that grabbed our attention from the past week, Oct. 8 — Oct. 14.
How good is “good”?
Oct. 11, 2018
How different is the “common” language between US and UK? Are Britons really less enthusiastic in the way they express themselves? A new YouGov study asked British and American people to rate a list of 40 adjectives in an attempt to investigate how good is “good” and how bad is “bad.” On a scale from zero to ten, although Britons did give lower scores than Americans to the 28 most negative adjectives, surprisingly, they also gave higher scores to the eight most positive ones. Also, for Americans “perfect” is not actually perfect, as they only gave it a score of 8.75. Apart from identifying how specific descriptions are perceived, studies like this one can help choose the best group of words for sentiment scales, often used in polls or reviews. YOUGOV [Learned about it via FLOWINGDATA]
The MicrobeScope
Oct. 10, 2018
When it comes to diseases are our concerns well placed? Are we worrying about diseases that have the highest actual number of sufferers? To answer these and many more questions around contagiousness, deadliness and transmission of diseases, data visualization studio Information is Beautiful, updated the data behind The MicrobeScope. This interactive graph lets you hover over the diseases to reveal their characteristics, change the axis to discover trends, or follow the stories at the bottom of the page to dive deeper. INFORMATION IS BEAUTIFUL
Under-25s turning their backs on alcohol, study suggests
Oct. 10, 2018
Are drinking cultures changing? Is avoiding alcohol more socially acceptable in the 2010s? A study carried out by University College London uncovered that while in 2005 only one in five 16 to 24-year-olds in England reported that they don’t drink alcohol, in 2015 the number rose to one in three. But these are just summary statistics. What about you? How much have you drunk in the past week? Tell BBC’s “alcometer” and find out whether your drinking habits are like or unlike most people in your country. BBC
How to develop a Data-Savvy HR Department
Oct. 11, 2018
Even in companies where data is at the heart of their operations, not everybody needs the same analytics skills to keep up to speed. In this article, the co-authors of the book The Power of People: Learn How Successful Organizations Use Workforce Analytics to Improve Business Performance shed light on the different levels of analytical capability amongst HR professionals. Pinpointing the level of data understanding and the role requirements of the workforce, it helps HR professionals to identify data-related needs and offer personalized learning solutions. HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW
That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading!
