Hey Datascapers! Full disclosure: today’s blog post is going to be short and sweet, as a transformer blew in our neighborhood causing everyone to lose power, so I’m working against the clock (i.e. my computer battery) to make sure readers get their regularly scheduled, high-quality Tartan Datascapes content! It’s going to be a tough job, but it’s worth it for all you awesome readers.

If I gave you $100 to build a lemonade stand, it is reasonable that I would want to see the finished product to know how the money was spent. Further, if that $100 was given to me by members of our neighborhood, it is also reasonable that they might want to see the finished lemonade stand too! This is the premise of open science (or, more broadly, open research). 

Think back to the last time you read a comic book. How did you do it? Did you read it straight through from the first page to the last page? Did you first skim through it to get a general idea of the content? The last comic book I read was the manga Paradise Kiss (it’s brilliant, if you haven’t read it!), and I read it in the same way that I read all other comic books: I read the text in the speech bubbles and look at the illustrations in the panels. Most people reading this blog probably read comic books in a similar way!

In this week's installment of Tartan Datascapes, I want to talk about survey data. Have you ever received a follow-up survey after you’ve gone to a workshop or an event? Be honest - do you fill it out? If your answer to the second question is no, I’m not here to shame you (promise!), but I am here to show you how those surveys can be very useful data sources for the people who sent them to you!