Data Analysis
This section looks at data analysis as it applies to
audits.
Previous audits have tended to present rather than analyse data.
In order to help develop appropriately targeted strategies and
action plans, audits need to present an analysis of both recorded
and perceived crime and disorder, within the local social and
economic context.
Any analysis of data comes after ensuring that the
data itself is relevant and as up to date and complete as possible.
Otherwise you get "garbage in, garbage out"! (the GIGO
principle). The basic assumption with which to start analysis of any
set of data in relation to crime and disorder is this:
Crime incidents do not, on the whole, occur randomly. The purpose
of data analysis is to describe what is happening and infer
what relationships exist between them, and why. Simply listing
tables of crime incidents is not enough.
Statistics are useful because they:
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Summarise data and display relationships that are difficult
to interpret in words or lists of crime incidents.
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Can be converted into graphs and tables to display results,
making it easier to interpret what cannot accurately be conveyed
by words alone.
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Add value to decision-making and help to decide which actions
are important because they identify where one pattern links or
relates to another, For example, the trends in injuries
requiring hospital treatment reflecting trends in violent
accidents.
Click on the links below for further information.
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