Typing "data trends"
You type "data trends" and press Enter. You get a million results: films, jobs, games and adverts.
A short plan before you search saves hours. It tells you what to type, and where the answer is likely to be kept.
Key words
| Word | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Data requirement | the exact information you need to find | |
| Parameter | a limit that shapes a search | the last three years, the UK only |
| Search term | the words you type into a search | |
| Big data | data so large or fast that ordinary tools struggle with it | |
| Trend | a way the numbers move over time, such as rising or falling | |
| Digital economy | the part of the economy that runs on digital goods and services | |
| Bias | an unfair lean towards one side | |
| Dataset | a collection of records on one subject, kept together |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
By the end of this lesson
Note
I can turn a topic into a clear search, set its parameters and name the sources that hold the data.
Starter
Have a go
Starter
3 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.
Worked example: from topic to search
| Part | Example |
|---|---|
| Topic | Identify trends in big data jobs |
| Data requirement | How many UK job adverts mention big data each year? |
| Parameters | UK only, the last five years, yearly counts |
| Sources that hold it | A statistics site, a jobs board report, a professional body survey |
| Search terms | UK job adverts big data yearly count |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
Clarify the topic first
A topic such as "the future of the digital economy" is far too wide. Ask what exactly you need. Which place? Which years? Which measure?
Write one clear sentence, your data requirement. Then add the parameters. Now you know what to type.
Which sources hold which data
Different data lives in different places. Counts of people and firms are on statistical websites. Opinions are in surveys and blogs. Methods are in books and journals. Trends in tools are in vendor reports and conferences.
Match the place to the question before you search. A dataset may be a file you can download, so check it is the version you need.