Data Literacy - 9781483333465

A practical, skill-based introduction to data analysis and literacy

We are swimming in a world of data, and this handy guide will keep you afloat while you learn to make sense of it all. In Data Literacy: A User's Guide, David Herzog, a journalist with more than 15 years of experience using data analysis to transform information into captivating storytelling, introduces students and professionals to the fundamentals of data literacy. Assuming the reader has no advanced knowledge of data analysis or statistics, book shows how to create insight from publicly-available data. Extensively illustrated, step-by-step instructions within a concise, yet comprehensive, reference will help readers to master:

• What data is and what it isn’t,
• How to develop a “database set of mind,”
• How to gather data, How to evaluate data,
• How to clean up “dirty data,”
• How to visualize data, and
• How to use tools for data analysis and visualization.

?This guidebook focuses on basic data analysis for those students and professionals who are just getting started, so most concepts and skills are introduced through exercises using simple Excel functions to work with data more effectively. A concluding chapter introduces more sophisticated data analysis methods and tools including database managers such as Microsoft Access and MySQL and standalone statistical programs such as SPSS, SAS and R.