Think about your everyday work. What type of data and descriptive statistics do you use?
If you do not currently use data or statistics, what type of data would you like to collect that could help in your work?
Write a little first, then compare.
A few examples from policy work:
- An education ministry tracking the share of students who can read at grade level, not just enrollment (as in the ASER example).
- A city tracking the median time to process a permit, broken out by neighborhood.
- A health program tracking the proportion of clinics that ran out of essential medicines last month.
- A police department mapping when and where incidents happen, as in Cali.
Hold on to your own example. As you work through this module, ask two things about it: does the number show you the whole distribution, and is it the right statistic for the decision you face?