The meaning we make
Social meaning, objectivity, consequences and sensemaking.
Around four hours on the meaning we make from data: how figures harden into facts, formulas that carry values, measures that change behaviour, sensemaking under uncertainty, power in data and collective methods.
- Level
- Focus
- Learning time
- 4 hours
- Where
- Understanding Data and Data Analysis
- Price
- £69
When you step up to a higher level, what you paid in the last 12 months for lower-level courses inside the bigger course comes off its price, in proportion to how much of each is inside it, whichever topic it's from. Courses at the same or a lower level don't give credit against each other. A Focus course or above always costs at least £15. Read the full terms
Certificate of Completion, or Certificate of Completion and Assessment with a short assessment
Overview and Outcomes.
Who It's For
Leaders, analysts, commissioners and board members in councils, the NHS, housing, police, fire and charities in Wales and England.
Overview
This Focus brings together the social side of data, where meaning is made between people. It opens with how definitions and categories settle meaning, using the different ways England and Wales count rough sleeping. It then examines formulas that look neutral, from the RAWP formula and the NICE threshold to the 2020 A Level algorithm, and measures that change behaviour through Goodhart's law and gaming. It moves to sensemaking under uncertainty with Weick, Cynefin and Rosenhead, then to power and voice through Data Feminism, and closes with collective methods such as the data walk and SenseMaker.
Aims
This Focus aims to develop leaders who use formulas and measures while still owning the decision. It builds the judgement to see the choices inside headline figures, design measures for learning rather than control, treat data as feedback in complex situations and bring the people affected into reading what data means.
In summary, you will be able to:
- Examine the definitions and choices hidden inside headline figures and formulas.
- Design measures that support learning and adapt when they distort behaviour.
- Facilitate sessions where groups read data together and include the people affected.
What you'll develop
Through this Focus course, you will build the ability to:
- Use the five questions for headline figures to examine the definitions, counts and omissions behind a key figure in your own organisation.
- Explain how proxies, weights and thresholds carry values inside an allocation formula, using the RAWP and NICE cases.
- Design a small basket of measures for learning that starts with purpose, pairs numbers with stories and adapts when measures distort behaviour.
- Use the Cynefin domains to judge what data can do in a situation, treating data as feedback rather than proof where things are complex.
- Use five questions about power, and the seven principles of Data Feminism, to examine who collects, who is counted and who decides what data means.
- Plan a sensemaking session using the six-step cycle, from preparing the data and reading independently to surfacing differences and deciding the next probe.
Built from 3 parts.
4 hours of learning.
- 01When formulas decideSocial meaning and the seduction of objectivityBitesize2 modules
- 02Consequences and uncertaintyUnintended consequences and sensemaking with dataBitesize2 modules
- 03Making sense togetherWhose data, and collective sensemaking methodsBitesize2 modules
Keep going.
Part of the Understanding Data and Data Analysis topic, also sold whole as Beyond the dashboard.
Go deeper, and pay only the difference
- You are hereFocus, 4 hours, £69
- The whole topicImmerse, Beyond the dashboard, 11 hours, £249. Already own the Focus? You pay £180.
When you step up to a higher level, what you paid in the last 12 months for lower-level courses inside the bigger course comes off its price, in proportion to how much of each is inside it, whichever topic it's from. Courses at the same or a lower level don't give credit against each other. A Focus course or above always costs at least £15. Prices per person. Read the full terms
Also part of: Leading with data and digital