Stats 5.4 Open data exploration introduction by example video
Channel: Dana Lee Ling
Date: 29/01/2021

An introduction to open data exploration. In the "real world" no one is likely to ask you to calculate the mean, make a box plot, or run a particular statistical test. The reality is that someone comes to you with raw data and questions. You then have to decide how to analyze the data and the statistical meaning of the results of that analysis. 

In order to "tell the story" using the data you will have to learn what the data is measuring. What is the nature of the sample? This means learning something about the area being researched. In this video data is taken from markets serving Pacific island kava, known on Pohnpei as sakau. Sakau is a soporific, inducing a sense of calm and tranquility in the one who drinks of the sacred root. The data derives from a time when sakau was sold by the styrofoam cup. The numbers are cup counts. Locally people claim to consume only to get "the feeling" - that relaxed sense of being "sakaula" as is said here. The numbers, however, tell perhaps a more complex story.

◦ Based on the data, what useful statistics can you report? Do not overload your analysis with every single statistic you can think of, report only the statistics that tell the story of the data.
◦ Look also for unusual data, for data outliers, if any, reporting the unusual data and why that data is unusual.
◦ Include a statistically informative chart, people are visual learners. Think about some of the chart types you have encountered in this course. Choose wisely: the chart should help tell the story of the data.

Textbook information on open data exploration is collected in chapter 12: 
http://www.comfsm.fm/~dleeling/statistics/text6.html#page-121
Spreadsheet in the video:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1EnE4kpOpHWL_RzpwC8fc7-hCG0fD-QpBf4j-5StDW-k/edit?usp=sharing
Slides in the video:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/12SS_GZ_83tHbapDjeYdMka7Kv3HfBwqI7VCb7ppcZdg/edit?usp=sharing