Data should be used as evidence and not illustration

I read the Guardian article on journalist’s struggles with “data literacy” with interest. The piece concentrates on inaccurate reporting through a lack of understanding of numbers, and the context around them. “Honest mistakes”, of a sort. Taken more cynically, it is an example of a fallacy that I see regularly in many different  disciplines (I’m [...]

Workshops as inception

I spent the first two days of this week on a course. The course was run in the style of a workshop – no lectures, no learning materials, no rigid structure. Just discussions and exercises that ebbed and flowed as questions arose. This is quite liberating, particularly for a person such as myself who is [...]

The selective truth

There are two sides to every coin, but nuance is difficult to convey in a headline or summary. A clear and decisive statement is far likelier to catch the eye. It is important to question the motives of both the source of information and the reporting when making a decision as to the veracity. I’ve [...]

Increasing visibility

John recently wrote an interesting post about (good) planners being invisible. It is a similar story for researchers. After all, aren’t planners glorified researchers? (Well, to some extent, it depends on the type of research but, generally, no.) John suspects this inherent invisibility, coupled with a desire for recognition, is the motivation behind the many [...]

Mark Earls – From “me” to “we”

Thanks to Mat kindly donating his ticket, I was able to go and see Mark Earls give a seminar entitled From “me” to “we” at the Royal Society. Rather shamefully, I am still yet to read Herd – the book (and associated research) on which the talk was based. This is despite regularly reading the [...]

How can research inspire?

The question in the title is predicated on the assumption that research can inspire. While the haters may disagree, I truly believe it can. Understanding the different ways in which it can do so is trickier. In a slight contradiction to my previous post on “insight”, I’m using the term “research in its most catch-all [...]

The nebulous concept of an insight

(Note: Apologies in advance if I offend past, present or future clients and colleagues with the following opinion) Inspired by Neil and John railing against the word “consumer”, I must profess my annoyance with how “insight” is bandied around. I’m struggling to think of a word more overused and misused (the word “specialist” with respect [...]

Perspective bias and the anchoring effect

Anchoring is a cognitive trait that causes us to rely too heavily on certain pieces of information when making a decision, such as an up-until-then trusted brand name selling us a lemon. Perspective bias is a form of subjectivity or self-selection where we are unable to divorce our own prejudices and experiences from a decision. [...]

Facebook Polls could be pretty useful

At the recent World Economic Forum, Facebook Global Markets Director Randi Zuckerberg demonstrated Facebook polls. This, accompanied by an interview in the Telegraph, has sent the blogosphere aflutter in two separate directions. In one corner are those excited by the prospect of 120,000 responses in 20 minutes (as a question on Barack Obama’s stimulus plan [...]

When did we start trusting strangers?

Following on from their (very useful) Social Media tracker, Universal McCann have released some follow up research entitled When did we start trusting strangers? (RSS Readers – you may have to click through to see the slideshare presentation) It explores the influence that we wield online, and how consumer generated content – whether blogs, reviews [...]