2. Questions on Data¶
Before we dive straight into analysing the data, we should speak to our users first to understand what their needs are. Doing so would ensure we are providing a tailored analysis and/or product which meets their needs. We would learn what has business value so we can spend more time on this.
Hence, in the absence of actual users, let’s imagine we are working with the local authority of Camden who supply us with this data on crime. What are their user-needs and how could they action on these user-needs?
Possible user-stories that we may get are:
As a councillor of Camden, I need to know if crime is a big problem, so I know whether it requires my attention.
As a journalist for the Camden Herald, I want to know how crime has changed over time, so I can hold the council to account for possible failings on crime.
As a police commissioner overseeing the local authority of Camden, I need to know which wards have the highest crime, so I know which wards I should focus on to enact the biggest change to crime.
As a policy officer for the local authority of Camden, I want to know what are the categories of crime that are most problematic and what are the causes of each type of crime, so I can propose policy to address them.
Taking these user-stories, we need to re-frame them so that we can produce tackle them by analysing the data. Their re-framed versions are:
As a councillor, can you tell me what the current crime rate is for Camden and how it compares with other local authorities?
To note, we can answer the first part of this user-need through calculating the current crime-rate.
The second part about whether it is a big problem is more open. We could compare crime rates in Camden with other local authorities, but a more sensitive measure of whether crime is a big problem would be to understand what people living in Camden think about crime-levels because they are the end-user here.
As a journalist, can you show me how crime rates have changed over time?
As a police commissioner, can you show me what the crime rates are for each ward?
As a policy officer, can you tell me which crime categories have the highest crime rates? Can you tell me what are the causes of these categories?
Analytical note: To enable cross-comparisons over time and across wards, we analyse crime rates instead of crime incidences.
In reality, we would conduct user-research to understand better what our users want.