Transcript Project Overview

Just Give Me the Facts:
Using Data to Strengthen
Collaborative Marketing
Julie Sharpe
Family Connection Conference
October 2005
Workshop Overview
• Where to Find Data
• Data Pitfalls and Pointers
• Using Data to Market Your
Collaborative
Why Data Are Important
• Value what is measured
• Tracking trends and changes
• Frame issues
• Decision making
• Telling the story
• Making it personal
-for more info on messaging…
Frameworksinstitute.org ;
Data on Children and Families
• National
• State
• Local
• Program
National: KIDS COUNT
• A national and state-by-state effort
funded by the Annie E. Casey
Foundation.
• Tracks the status of child well-being
in the U.S. through reporting current
and credible data.
National: KIDS COUNT
• Seeks to enrich local, state, and
national discussions concerning ways
to secure better futures for all
children.
• Publishes an annual Data Book, issues
annual state rankings of child wellbeing, and provides an interactive
database at
www.gafcp.org/kidscount
National: Federal Sources
• U.S. Census
− Decennial Census www.census.gov
− American Community Survey: reliable and
timely demographic, socioeconomic, and housing
data.
• Child Indicators
− www.childstats.gov published by the Federal
Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics.
National compilation only, no state data given.
National: Federal Sources
• Surveys
− SLAITS: ongoing telephone survey that screens
nearly one million households per year to provide
comparative data across the States and the Nation.
Recent surveys include children’s health, special
health care needs, asthma, early childhood health.
www.cdc.gov/nchs/slaits.htm
− YRBS: Youth Risk Behavioral Survey. Not used much
in Georgia so data of limited use.
www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/yrbs/index.htm
National: Nonprofit / Public
Policy Organizations
• CFED (Corporation for Enterprise Development) Assets
and Opportunities. Ranks 50 states on 31 outcome
indicators in areas of financial security, business
development, homeownership, health care, and
education. www.cfed.org
• Child Trends. Trend data for national indicators in
areas of health, social and emotional development;
income, assets, and work; education and skills;
demographics; and family and community.
www.childtrendsdatabank.org
State: Georgia KIDS COUNT
• Measures how children and families are faring
in the state.
• Includes national, state, and county-level data,
as well as Census data by legislative districts.
• Represents the largest compilation of the most
current and reliable available data from a
variety of sources in Georgia.
State: Georgia KIDS COUNT
• Tracks progress across five result areas:
−Healthy Children
−School Readiness
−School Success
−Stable Self-sufficient Families
−Strong Communities
Local and Program
• Can talk about process (how many served, how
many classes, how many health fairs held, etc.)
• Results or outcomes often harder to
communicate about in the short term. Many of
the outcomes require long-term tracking and
patience. Talk about short-term gains –
improvement in school attendance, gains in
knowledge.
Local and Program
• Subcounty data. Census bureau tracks,
neighborhood data, polling precinct data,
particular school district data.
• Locally developed indicators. For example,
curriculum specific assessments.
Data Pitfalls and Pointers:
Basic Concepts
• Population: all persons of a particular
type. Infants = all persons under the age of 1; children = all
persons under the age of 18.
• Sample: subset of a population, usually
intended to be representative of larger
group.
• Ratio: relationship between two
numbers. One teacher and 12 students in the class, the ratio is
1 to 12.
Data Pitfalls and Pointers:
Basic Concepts
• Rate: how common the occurrence of an event
is in the population being studied. Rates enable
comparisons among localities and comparisons
in one locality over time. Rates often expressed
as per 1,000; per 10,000; or per 100,000.
• County population of teen girls ages 15-17 = 1382.
• 53 live births to teen girls in the county in 2004.
• 53/1382 x 1000 = county teen birth rate of 38.3/1,000.
• There were 38 births for every 1,000 girls ages 15-17 in
2004 in our county.
Data Pitfalls and Pointers:
Basic Concepts
• Percent: rate per 100. County live births in 2004 was 2,532.
• 186 of the live births were considered low birthweight.
• 186 lbw babies / 2,532 total births = 0.73
• 0.73 x 100 = 7.3% of births in our county in 2004 were low
birthweight.
• Mean: also called the average. Equal to the sum of the
measurements divided by the number of measurements in
the data set.
• 58 students in afterschool program that runs 180 days. Take the
number of days that each attended the program, get total,
divide by 58 and you will have the mean attendance (or
average).
Data Pitfalls and Pointers
• Provide complete information
− Year, age range, source, data definition
• Use official sources when possible
− KIDS COUNT
− Go to original source of data
• Know when composite indicators are used
− Teen violent deaths
− Healthy start
Data Pitfalls and Pointers
• Rankings
− Use caution with rankings. Changes in rank can be
affected by large change in one area or small changes
in many areas.
• Graphs
− Use caution with scales.
− Graphs can be manipulated to show great variation or
to mask differences.
• Small Numbers
− Issue for small populations
− Low Number Events <5
− Can use widen geographic area, increase time period
of analysis, or increase population definition.
Data Pitfalls and Pointers
• Comparisons
− When comparing trends over time or data from
various locations, make sure definitions for data
are the same.
− What is the age group studied or surveyed?
− Are you looking at raw numbers, rates, or
average?
− Are data collected in same manner?
− What is time period of data?
• Point-in-time? Federal fiscal year? State fiscal year? Calendar year?
Displaying Data
• Audience: target audience determines how
you display data, the detail needed, and the
depth of the data displayed. Charts, graphs,
tables, rates, percentages….what to use with
different audiences?
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Media
Partners
Program participants
Funders
Policymakers
Displaying Data: Be Clear
10.3% infant mortality rate
OR
ten out of 100 babies die before their first birthday
1 out of 10 babies dies before the age of one
56.7% high school graduation rate
OR
Just over half of the students in our county finish high school
in the typical four years.
1 in 2 students do not finish high school on time
Displaying Data: Be Clear
• Greater than 70% of White and Asian students
graduate on time.
• 49.6%, or slightly less than half, of Hispanic
students graduate on time.
• 1 in 3 Georgia high school students do not
graduate on time.
• Nearly 1 in 5 Georgia children live in poverty.
• Every day in Georgia, 14 babies are born to
teen mothers ages 15-17.
Who is audience for this graph?
Framing the Story:
Frameworks Institute
• How do we get people to think about our
issues?
• How do we get them to think about our
issues in such a way that they want to
solve them through public policies, not
only individual actions?
• How do we get them to think about issues
in such a way that they want to solve
them through OUR public policies?
Framing the Story:
Frameworks Institute
• People use mental shortcuts.
• Incoming information provides cues about
where to ‘file’ it mentally.
• People get most information about public
affairs from the news media which, over
time, creates a framework of
expectation, or dominant frame.
• Over time, we develop habits of thought
and expectation and configure incoming
information to conform to this frame.
Framing the Story:
Frameworks Institute
• When communication is inadequate,
people default to the ‘pictures in their
head’ or existing frames.
• When communication is effective, people
can see an issue from a different
perspective, or alternative frame.
Framing the Story:
Levels of Understanding
• Level One: Big ideas, like freedom,
justice, community, success, prevention,
responsibility.
• Level Two: Issue-types, like the
environment or child care or domestic
violence.
• Level Three: Specific issues, like
rainforests or earned income tax credits
or quality afterschool programs.
Using Data to Tell a Story
• Presentation
• Accuracy
• Relevance
Find the Mistakes
• Common errors
• Who is the audience?
• Three suggestions for
improvement
Make it Better!
• Who is the audience?
• Three suggestions for
improvement
• How would yours look?
Questions / Comments