Data-Driven Decision Making


Data-Driven Decision Making

Data Analysis and Visualization by searching for and summarizing a newspaper article that highlights a real-world problem that could be solved through statistical data. 

To successfully complete your discussion post, include the following:

  • The title of the article, the date it was published, and a link to the article.
  • A bullet-pointed summary of the purpose of the article and the problem it is trying to solve.
  • A brief explanation of how the article uses descriptive statistics to communicate information, conclusions, or solutions found in the study.


Data-Driven Decision Making

Note: The instructions for this discussion are the same as Step 1 in your Week 9 Assignment. 

To begin, visit one of the following newspapers’ websites: USA Today, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, or Washington Post. Select an article that uses statistical data related to a current event, your major, your current field, or a future career goal. The chosen article must have a publication date during this quarter.

Example topics may include:

  • Elections/exit polls
  • Award shows (Oscars/Emmys/Grammys)
  • Sports
  • Economy/job market
  • Gender equality

 Be sure to respond to at least one of your classmates’ posts.

The article should use one or more of the following categories of descriptive statistics: 

  • Measures of Frequency – Counting Rules, Percent, Frequency, Frequency Distributions
  • Measures of Central Tendency – Mean, Median, Mode
  • Measures of Dispersion or Variation – Range, Variance, Standard Deviation
  • Measures of Position – Percentile, Quartiles

Note: Once you navigate to a publication’s website, it may be easiest to do a search with a statistics-related word (ex: standard deviation).

EXAMPLES: