My prior post about the library research report, Opportunity for All, reminded me that as simple as percentages are, they sure can lead into bizarre territory. Suppose the report authors had determined that in 1990 an estimated 200 Internet terminals had been installed in U.S. public libraries nationwide. By 2007, then, the cumulative percentage growth [...]
Archive for the ‘Statistics’ Category
Just Make Up The Numbers
Posted in Measurement, Statistics on May 12, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Skyrocket Science
Posted in Measurement, Reporting Evaluation/Assessment Results, Statistics, tagged charts, graphical data presentation, graphs, visual data representation on April 19, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
I am still on my excellence-in-graphical-data-presentation kick. Insufferably so, I am afraid. As my Feb. 16 post mentioned, the principles of high quality graphical data presentation have been articulated by William Cleveland, Edward Tufte, Howard Wainer and others. Good graphing practice is based on these three rules: Be clear. (Strive for clarity. – William Cleveland) [...]
A-One-and-a-Two-and-a-Three
Posted in Measurement, Statistics, Uncategorized on April 5, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
There’s a goodly amount of good advice in the book What the Numbers Say: A Field Guide to Mastering Our Numerical World by Derrick Niederman and David Boyum (2003, Broadway Books). The quantity of this advice is sizable, considerable, hefty, copius, substantial, and voluminous. It’s a lot! But I’m more impressed qualitatively. Their message is [...]
Stranger Than Fiction
Posted in Research, Statistics, tagged confidence intervals, generalizability of findings, margin of error, sampling, survey research on March 16, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
I proceed with this little essay with some trepidation due to the topic I’ve chosen: the idea of margins of error in survey research. By “survey research” I mean such things as political polls, public opinion surveys, market research, and so on. Right up front I can share my conclusion with you. The common understanding [...]
Sawing with a Dull Saw
Posted in Advocacy, Library assessment, Measurement, Statistics, tagged history of public libraries, performance measurement, public library statistics on January 25, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
In spite of their evolution over the last few decades, accelerated most recently due to the Googlization of information, public libraries have been amazingly impervious to change in the arena of performance measurement. I found the following observations about library measures in the early history of American libraries: There is no branch of library economy [...]
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IMLS- Blog Post: National Medal Video: San José Public Library May 29, 2012
- Blog Post: Mark Your Calendars for WebWise Reprise! Live Webinars Coming in June May 25, 2012
- Blog Post: National Medal Video: Madison Children’s Museum May 22, 2012
- Blog Post: Let’s Move Museums & Gardens Success Story: Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History May 18, 2012
- Blog Post: Summer Learning is Important to Student Success May 16, 2012
- New Report Explores Roles of Libraries and Museums in an Era of Participatory Culture May 16, 2012
