Making Sense of Data in the Media

Who is the course for?

This course is suitable for anyone looking to improve their data literacy.

The course will also be useful to those studying or considering studying data-focused social science subjects.

What topics will you cover?

Recognising the ‘size’ of numbers that are reported in the media.

How change and risk are reported.

How social statistics are created, paying particular attention to survey data.

What we can learn from census categories.

The different ways that surveys can be conducted and the impact that different formats can have on the results.

How to draw a representative sample from a population.

Sources of measurement error in surveys.

Measuring sensitive or difficult subjects.

Checking whether data is trustworthy by reviewing the methodology.

How to calculate the Margin of Sampling Error (MoSE).

The difference between correlation and causation.

Where to find existing sources of data.

How to develop a quantitative research project.