My previous post explained how confirmation bias can prevent you from behaving like the natural data scientist you like to imagine you are by driving your decision making toward data that confirms your existing beliefs. This post tells the story of another cognitive bias that works against data science. Consider the following scenario: Company-wide
Data science, as Deepinder Dhingra recently blogged, “is essentially an intersection of math and technology skills.” Individuals with these skills have been labeled data scientists and organizations are competing to hire them. “But what organizations need,” Dhingra explained, “are individuals who, in addition to math and technology, can bring in
At the Journalism Interactive 2014 conference, Derek Willis spoke about interviewing data, his advice for becoming a data-driven journalist. “The bulk of the skills involved in interviewing people and interviewing data are actually pretty similar,” Willis explained. “We want to get to know it a little bit. We want to figure
