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I'm a microbiologist,
so I come across data

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in terms of cell
counts, calculating

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the number of colony-forming
units per mill.

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I would use data in two ways.

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The first one would
be to demonstrate

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certain economic arguments
and the second one

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would be to make forecasts,
to predict the future.

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So my subject is cell
biology and cancer biology.

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Sometimes you come
across quantitative data

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using replicates of a drug
treatment, for example.

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In history I think it would
be mainly in aspects--

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the study of social and
economic change, electoral data.

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That sort of thing is
probably the types of data

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that a student would
use most often.

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I'm an ecologist,
and ecologists use

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data in every single
question they try and ask

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of the natural world.

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I would come across data
in law, and using it

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in scenarios such as an
accountant's negligence

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case, where you'd be looking
at a large volume of accounts

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and other financial documents
and bank statements.

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Students are generally
OK in understanding data,

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though sometimes
they need to be more

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precise in what
they're talking about.

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So they'll sometimes
introduce percentages,

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and we're not sure a
percentage of what--

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is often a comment that
goes in the margin.

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There's also a tendency,
however, of history students

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to avoid using tables and graphs
when they would present data

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much more clearly
than using words.

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I'd perhaps expect
the student to develop

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the skills of being able
to critically question

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the factual information
they're given.

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How was that
information derived?

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Were the experiments
properly controlled?

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First year students tend
to be generally quite

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poor in understanding
data and data analysis

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and how it's used.

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So they're very good
at handling numbers,

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but very poor at understanding
what the numbers mean

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and how they can go on
to answer questions.