1.
Measurement and
Digital Toolbox
@danielsiders

2.
Types of Information

3.
Reported

4.
Understanding Questions
Finishing Forms
Self Consciousness
Don’t Know
Asking the wrong questions
Questions that shape possible answers
Setting expectations

5.
Have you stopped beating your wife?
Would you vote for a woman for president if she
were qualified in every other way?
Does it seem possible or does it seem impossible
to you that the Nazi extermination of the Jews
never happened? (34% negative)
Are you certain the Holocaust happened? (1%
negative)

6.
Observed/Behavioral
Digital is data
Just pay attention
Everything is recorded

7.
Data never tells the whole truth
But most of the time it’s people who
screw up

8.
Correlation vs Causation

9.
100
80
60
Sales
40
20
0
1 2 3 4 5 6
Month

10.
Potential customers
cost $2.68
What is a viewer worth?

11.
Qualitative vs Quantitative
Descriptive Numerical
Observed Measured
Disagreement Units
possible
Requires
Speaks for itself interpretation
Counting is not measurement

12.
Tell me about your day?
Great! I awoke at 0600. A
I got up early, the passenger held a train
weather was great, door for me. The
people on the subway median temperature
were nice, lunch was was 72ºF, and I
great and I felt good! consumed 1700

13.
Data from Another Source
What is the source?
Who collected it?
Who analyzed it?
Why was it commissioned?
What is the perspective/agenda?

14.
Binaries don’t exist
More than one thing can be true
Don’t put people in boxes
Life is analog

15.
20
15
10
5
0
0 3.75 7.5 11.25 15
Assumptions can be dangerous

16.
Data should raise questions

17.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/walkingsf/
One dot equals 25 people.
White Black Hispanic Asian

18.
http://blog.okcupid.com/
1.51 Million Active Users
43,397 Tests

19.
http://blog.okcupid.com/
Messages a man gets, by Age and Income
20 30 40 50
18 19 21222324 25 26 272829 313233 34 3536 37 3839 4142 4344 4546 4748 49
>100K
100K
80K
70K
60K
50K
40K
30K
<20K
(Observed)
Messages received per week by percentile
10th 50th 100th

20.
http://blog.okcupid.com/

21.
http://blog.okcupid.com/
(Self-reported)
Lowest High School Graduation rate nationwide

22.
http://blog.okcupid.com/
Would you consider role-
Would you rather lose the playing a rape fantasy
right to bear arms or vote? with a partner who asked
you to?

23.
http://blog.okcupid.com/
4:1 male to female suicides
2:1 female to male attempts
afsp.org

24.
http://blog.okcupid.com/

25.
http://blog.okcupid.com/

26.
http://blog.okcupid.com/

27.
http://blog.okcupid.com/

28.
http://blog.okcupid.com/

29.
http://blog.okcupid.com/

30.
http://blog.okcupid.com/

31.
http://blog.okcupid.com/

32.
http://blog.okcupid.com/

33.
http://blog.okcupid.com/
More gay curious Less gay curious

34.
last.fm

35.
last.fm

36.
What questions does this raise?
How can I test my assumptions?
What problem do I want to solve?

37.
What’s the Goal?
18
16 Malfunction
14 Accident
Failure Rate (%)
12
10
8
6
4
2
iPhone 3GS Blackberry MotorollaAxis
X HTC iPhone 4 Other
http://www.squaretrade.com/

38.
Google.com/adplanner
Spyfu.com
SEMRush.com
Backtype.com
Scoutlabs.com
Webnumbr.com

39.
#himc