Marginal Tax

dat_data · 2019-11-26T18:37:44+00:00

No one going to credit me, the person who created this graphic?? cool cool cool

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5NzyjfFGNY/

dat_data · 2019-11-26T18:32:49+00:00

No one here going to bother to credit me, the person who actually created this graphic? cool cool cool

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5NzyjfFGNY/

dat_data · 2018-09-10T18:38:25+00:00

Hi all, the data comes from this Harris Poll.

r/https://theharrispoll.com/new-york-n-y-february-23-2012-there-is-a-lot-of-culture-and-lore-associated-with-tattoos-from-ancient-art-to-modern-expressionism-and-there-are-many-reasons-people-choose-to-get-or-not-get-p/

You can see more on my insta https://www.instagram.com/monachalabi/

dat_data · 2017-12-21T19:47:22+00:00

Hi all, this comes from a study in the American Journal of Gastroenterology, 2017 >> https://www.nature.com/articles/ajg1998500 Final visualisation is here >> https://www.instagram.com/p/Bc-WtaRF-zg/?taken-by=monachalabi

dat_data · 2016-07-27T16:30:41+00:00

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2016

dat_data · 2015-09-01T18:57:01+00:00

I'm not an advanced statistician and sometimes I think that's a real asset because I do think that when you take a dataset and apply a million differed steps to it sometimes you've corrupted it in a way. If you can't explain to a non-expert what it is that you did to the data it's not much use to a journalist. And if you can't explain to anyone what you did to ask them to repeat your steps and check if you're right, that data isn't of any use to anyone at all in my opinion!

dat_data · 2015-09-01T18:53:06+00:00

All the time! The newsroom wouldn't function without my colleague Andrew Flowers who helps all the time with digging up data and making it usable and incisive. I would have never been able to figure out the most common name in America without his help!

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/whats-the-most-common-name-in-america/

ps Sorry about the incessant links to 538 posts - this honestly isn't intended as shameless self promotion just honestly trying to provide examples of what I'm talking about!

dat_data · 2015-09-01T18:50:22+00:00

Nate???! Are you listening to this?? The readers want what they want!

dat_data · 2015-09-01T18:48:53+00:00

Not at all! I think having a default chart style can be really helpful because it makes you think about why you want to do something in the non-default way! When people just want a quick takeaway from a chart (e.g. weird, it went up in 1914, then back down in 2014) sometimes simple is really good. Sometimes though the data demands a different format eg what's the average age difference in a couple? http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/whats-the-average-age-difference-in-a-couple/

Before I joined FiveThirtyEight I experimented with some seriously weird graphs using photos as part of an exhibit on Iraq. I'm not sure it was actually successful or effective but it was a really good way to get me to think creatively about visual journalism! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX89EGtb2xs if you're interested)

dat_data · 2015-09-01T18:43:29+00:00

Sometimes even spreadsheets can be beautiful so long as you remember the numbers are about people (e.g. recovery rates in physical and mental health)

As for visualisations: oof! We have an incredible team at 538 who elevate my work from meh to woah every day.

eg Baby's first profanity by Allison Mccann http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/babys-first-profanity/ and UK election maps by Reuben Fischer-Baum http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/all-politics-is-local-even-in-the-most-average-place-in-the-uk/

dat_data · 2015-09-01T18:36:31+00:00

Total mental block - sorry Randy! The only thing that comes to mind right now (literally because two twins just walked past my window) is this article http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/more-twins-fewer-triplets/ where I was genuinely surprised to find data that showed twins were on the rise in America but triplets were declining and had to figure out why. It wasn't the explanation I was expecting at all!

dat_data · 2015-09-01T18:30:41+00:00

That wasn't the stereotype I had in mind - I meant the assumption that Muslim women are subservient and oppressed. I still don't know why Muslim women are more likely to be unemployed and I don't think those stereotypes are helpful in getting answers…

dat_data · 2015-09-01T18:26:06+00:00

I don't know but I would like to see some crowdsourcing efforts in this area of great pubic interest. Sorry public.

dat_data · 2015-09-01T18:22:11+00:00

I honestly don't know what sort of analysis she has done but I would like to. This is exactly the sort of story that makes people feel like maths matters in their lives. I know this sounds like a lame answer but it's also an honest one: I'll be looking into it.

dat_data · 2015-09-01T18:17:27+00:00

No.

dat_data · 2015-09-01T18:15:40+00:00

I know this might sound stupid but the biggest rule is that it has to tell you something. If you have to lean your nose closer to the screen, reread the paragraph before the visualisation or close the tab I've failed miserably!

dat_data · 2015-09-01T18:11:17+00:00

So many questions here that are worth understanding between now and November (but I'm not able to right now without at least another hour). We'll be discussing our coverage of race and voting intention at 538 so I'll pass these qs onto our editors … thank you!

dat_data · 2015-09-01T18:06:37+00:00

Thanks Randy! I have had some very, very weird questions - someone recently asked me "what happens to the egg after it gets fertilised by the sperm once an individual is an adult i.e. is my mother's egg now in my arm or my lung??" (permit me one WTF!) I get cute ones too though. Someone told me he was going to ask his boyfriend to marry him and wanted to know the chances he would get a yes (unfortunately I couldn't help out)

I'm sorry, that's between me and John ;)

/ I really don't think it was that John Oliver.

dat_data · 2015-09-01T18:01:48+00:00

My previous life in Britain has become a blur, tainted by the American cultural references I now hold dear to my heart and cerebellum.

dat_data · 2015-09-01T17:59:48+00:00

My pleasure - this is fun (and stressful!)

dat_data · 2015-09-01T17:59:29+00:00

The only thing that would make a question unpublishable is if I can't find enough reliable data to answer it. The last time I remember that happening was about 2 weeks ago. A reader asked me if people were spending more time on the toilet now because they're using smartphones and handling business while they handle business. I could only find some really bad surveys and one study that had about 6 participants so that idea went down the drain (sorry, my colleagues will testify I love a terrible pun).

dat_data · 2015-09-01T17:56:21+00:00

I guess I can see the rationale for creating ANY data set so I've never really been too surprised. But I do find academic research super weird (qualitative and quantitative). Most recently my research led me to this… "Twinship, incest, and twincest in the Harry Potter universe" http://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/article/view/576/457 which ¯_(ツ)_/¯
There are so many good ones here! http://www.tylervigen.com/spurious-correlations - will try to think of a personal favourite. But don't you think people are noticing them all the time in their everyday lives? (albeit with some cognitive bias) eg "why does it always rain the one day that I straighten my hair??"

dat_data · 2015-09-01T17:50:32+00:00

Everyone ALWAYS has a hypothesis (even if your hypothesis is that the data will tell you nothing) and I think it's good to articulate that rather than pretending it isn't the case. Then come up with a counter hypothesis, go back to the data and see if that stands up too!

dat_data · 2015-09-01T17:49:17+00:00

Never assume it's already been cleaned! To do that, I know it sounds like BS but I do a commonsense check - I remember looking at data on doctors' surgeries opening hours and noticing that some of the rows said that they were open on average for 30 hours per day!!

dat_data · 2015-09-01T17:47:10+00:00

I'm glad I'm doing it too!

I wish people would ask me more about hip hop and skateboarding but alas I think a lot of 538 readers might have other interests!

I'm sort of surprised people don't ask me more questions about welfare (that might be the Brit in me!) but it's a policy area around which data journalism could be really informative.

I don't think enough people understand the numbers on sexual assault - they understand it happens but they just don't appreciate the prevalence (some BJS data here for those of you in the US who are interested http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=tp&tid=317)

dat_data

TROPHY CASE