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Science Doesn’t Stop when the Art Starts: 9 Steps to Equity & Ethics in Data Communication
When you are communicating your Data Science findings, don’t ditch the scientific mindset you’ve had for all the other parts of your project.
It’s not at all uncommon for We All Count to work with a project that has allocated tens of thousands of dollars toward hiring data collection firms, building analysis capability, or consulting methodological experts, yet expect the product of this work to be designed and communicated by their researchers armed with only Microsoft Word and a color printer.
How you communicate your information is as important as the information itself, as understanding the content is dependent on its effective communication. Does this mean that you need to spend thousands of dollars on graphic design software, digital dashboards and hiring outside communication experts? No, just maintain a scientific approach to communication.
Frame this step in the process as science, not just art.
Too often this can feel like the moment in the process where ‘the science’ ends and how things get communicated become dependent on artistic considerations like ‘who’s the best writer on…