3 Myths about Data Stories
To Meet Your Programming Needs
April 21, 2023
Maryfrances Porter
Data viz is when you format your results so people want to look at them.
Data stories are when you create data viz that tells a specific story from your analyses.
Impact stories are when you combine data stories and client narratives to move people to action.
Myth #1: Data Stories Must be Unbiased
This past Tuesday, the Academy participants talked about how uncomfortable it can feel to boldly assert the take home message of a graph, i.e., what they believe the data are saying. Because we are steeped in a world that talks a lot about science, there’s a tendency to feel like you need to present raw data, a tentative interpretation, and then allow the audience to decide what it means in order to eliminate bias.
This is not true.
ALL data interpretation is biased. There’s nothing magical about scientists that makes them unbiased.
Also – you’re telling a different kind of story than scientists…
Myth #2: You Are Not Qualified to Understand Your Results
When scientists work to understand their results, they do it in the context of having created a controlled environment and having observed what happened to research participants. This is the context they are using to understand the results. They also publish the results for other scientists to look at, or even replicate. This is how we build (one kind of) knowledge about how things work.
You are not a scientist and you are not testing hypotheses. You are a practitioner. You are building a different kind of knowledge – knowledge about what people get and how they feel about the services your organization provides.
Rather than publishing results in scientific journals for debate, you ensure there are multiple perspectives understanding the results – this is your Insight Team!
And, this is why it’s important to have a strengths-based, open, and curious data culture – so that anyone who disagrees how the data are being understood or anyone who has a “crazy” idea about what the results are saying, is able to say that.
Myth #3: You Don’t Need Training to Understand Your Data
You do need training in how to understand data… just like you need training to do bookkeeping or to drive a car or whatever. No one is born knowing these things. Fortunately, the training isn’t super difficult, and I have strategies, structures, and templates that help.
Learn more in the ImpactStory Academy!
Partnerships for Strategic Impact
At Partnerships for Strategic Impact®, I have all the tools to build out the structures and strategies you need for collecting actionable impact data; I train staff in how to use them, analyze data, and make action steps for change; I teach you to tell powerful impact stories. My goal is your sustainability: I provide just the right amount of coaching and ongoing support to ensure success.
This is within reach. It’s not harder than managing your budget. Plus, you, your funders, and the people you serve deserve to know more about the value your organization delivers.
If you’re reading this, then you’re already part of my network. Schedule some time on my calendar. There’s no sales pitch and no obligation. Just curiosity and answering your questions. I am the seasoned program-evaluation, program-development, data-storytelling consultants you need, right in your back pocket. I am here to bring order to the process of figuring out how to track and use your impact story.
– Maryfrances
Your ImpactStory™ Coach
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