Data for Dissertations I: Discovery By Kara Jackman Archivist and Preservation Librarian (And By Night… Freelance Journalist)

Storytelling with Data Let me tell you a story about storytelling with data…. Realized very similar process to research methods, to the scientific method

As Doctoral Students You must come up with a unique topic to write about for your thesis Difficult to do, right? So...Data Science, Storytelling with Data can help you find a unique angle on a large, commonly encountered data set

Questions What is data? Big Data? Why is it important? Where can I find data on the internet? How do you download? What now? (Come to Part II)

What is data? It is raw, very messy sets of information -”big data has lots of spam and inaccuracies” – BU MET Prof., Robert Shudy -”Data is like a huge box filled with all kinds of junk.” BU Prof. A. Banasiewicz Primary resources found on the web – Digitized paper records, spreadsheets filled with information, results from studies, test results, etc. – Tweets, Facebook statuses, etc. Data sets released from non-profits, the government, commercial services, repositories, groups of organizations, and more Information is downloadable in variety of formats including (csv, xls)

Not Available online? May not be online you may have to go to Archives and create your own spreadsheets filled with this information (Ex. Church Records Collections Ledgers, Methodist Church Class Records, Statistical information from Morgan Memorial Goodwill Industries Reports, etc.) Or create surveys, polls, etc. to develop your own data set

Why is data and data science important? For companies, it means more money, more ways to sell or tell their stories in a qualitative fashion Can transform spreadsheets and data points into charts and graphs through data manipulation and visualization Brings together raw information, research methods, and a little computer science to manipulate the data, to show patterns, prove your thesis (or hypothesis) Data science skills will help you with future job opportunities

Before the Where, the What? Follow the scientific method – Get a topic, search for information Ask the right questions AND…Be sure you are asking the right questions in the right places Begin with Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? More specific about the “5 W’s”, the better the results

Data Science/Storytelling with Data

Research Methods

Scientific method

How do I find the Data? Websites Social Media (Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Reddit, etc.) Proprietary Databases (BU Libraries A-Z Databases)

Websites

Social Media Use these tools to “listen in” on social media conversations Social Media Aggregators

Social Media You can create a data set of tweets, or mention of “faith” or other theological topics and use THAT as part of your original research Use Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets A list of the Best Social Media Aggregators Social-Media-Aggregator

Buzzsumo

Buzzsumo Results

Verify Social Media Stories us/firefox/addon/identify/ us/firefox/addon/identify/

Google Enter “Free Downloadable Data on [insert topic here] Advanced Searching in Google Check Google Apps

Proprietary Databases (Libraries) The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research y.bu.edu/wrd_home.asp y.bu.edu/wrd_home.asp TableBase – covers most topics Lexis-Nexis Factiva Academic OneFile

How to Download?

Next Time…in Part II How to Manipulate data in Excel and Google Spreadsheets Pivot Tables in Excel Basic Visualization of Data using Excel Timelines