Competencies

In this project, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following competencies:

Interpret psychological data using quantitative and qualitative methods

Present psychological findings to academic and nonacademic audiences

Scenario

For this project, you will be creating a data brief. Developing the data brief will challenge you to not only interpret data correctly, but then communicate your findings to a mixed audience made up of members of the scientific community and the general public. Telling a persuasive and accurate story from statistical findings is an important skill to add to your data literacy toolbox. Note: You do not need to perform any additional analyses or calculations. You only need to interpret and report the analyses that have been completed and create graphics as visual supplements for your data brief. 

Imagine you work as a research assistant in Washington, DC, at the Department of Justice. The Department of Justice is interested in issues related to race, discrimination, and policing. Your team has been given data and output from chi-square tests, and you are tasked with communicating the findings and possible implications directly to police departments. However, all the work you do is public and thus available to the media and community members, as well as to nonprofit organizations. As you weave together the story of this data, keep in mind that it will need to be written for multiple audiences and tell an accurate and persuasive story.

Directions

For this project, you will submit a data brief as a Word file. You will complete the brief using your Soomo writing template and the topic you selected in the Project Three Milestone assignment. Use the data set provided and the relevant contingency table to complete your interpretation of the chi-square test. Note: You will find a contingency table that relates to each topic in the Excel file, provided as individual tabs. You must address the criteria listed below: 

Data Brief

1. Describe the key findings from your interpretation of the data for a general audience. Your response should be about 2 to 4 sentences. Include the following in your response:

A. Easy to understand statistical values (e.g., percentages)

2. Summarize the background information for the scientific community. Your response should be about 3 to 5 sentences. Include the following in your response:

A. Introduction to the research topic

B. Credible background sources to support the introduction to the topic. Note: In the Project Three Milestone, you reviewed credible sources to create your annotated bibliography. Use those credible sources in this section or additional credible sources if needed.

3. Describe the major statistical findings for the scientific community. Your response should be about 3 to 7 sentences. Include the following in your response:

A. An explanation of at least two major findings

B. An explanation contextualizing the graphs you will include in the next item to ensure that the reader understands their purpose in the brief

4. Represent two major statistical findings for the scientific community with graphs. Your response should include a graph for each finding to support your description.

5. Provide a concise summary appropriate for a general audience. Include the following in your response:

A. A restatement of why this research was completed and reminder of the key findings

B. The application of the findings

Qualities of the Data Brief

1. Create a narrative based on communication best practices for a varied audience. Your data brief should demonstrate the following:

A. Tells an accurate and persuasive story

B. Presents sufficient logic

C. Presents statistical findings to support claims