Understanding Public Data
Content reviewed · Universal OSINT · Read as Markdown
A number needs a definition, a population, a place, and a period. Read those details before drawing a chart or comparing countries.
Read these five things first
- Definition: what is measured, and which people or events are included?
- Unit: is it a count, a percentage, a rate, or a monetary value? A percentage needs a denominator.
- Time and place: distinguish the reference period from release date; check boundaries and reporting intervals.
- Method: is the value observed, surveyed, estimated, or modeled? Read uncertainty and quality flags.
- Version: has the source revised values or changed definitions? Record the release you used.
Compare like with like
Two countries may report different age groups or use different collection methods. Even within one country, a revised definition can break a time series. If you cannot align the definitions, avoid ranking them or presenting a continuous trend.
Percent or percentage points? In a hypothetical example, a rate rising from 20% to 25% increases by 5 percentage points, or 25% relative to its initial value. These are different descriptions of the same change.
Say what the data cannot tell you
An aggregate does not describe every person. A correlation does not establish a cause. "Not available," "not applicable," and zero are different states; keep the source's distinctions rather than silently filling gaps.
Try an official source
Read an indicator in the UN SDG Metadata Repository, then find its observations in the SDG data platform. World Bank Open Data is another starting point; do not assume similarly named indicators are interchangeable.