How Data Detectives Came About

Data Detectives

Many creative ideas and re-imaginings of business-as-usual have sprung from COVID-19, which began to impact all of us early in 2020. Further compounding the pandemic was the need for a just societal response following the brutal tipping-point homicide of George Floyd in May 2020. Response to these issues helped stimulate revival of the MathServe department in this Journal, with a new subdepartment Data Detectives designed for creative statistical collaboration as part of a just response to systemic problems.

A Data Detectives investigation begins with a research question that comes from a community leader, someone from an organization with a stake in the answer, whose judgment about the matter can influence the community, and who is in position to change society for the better.

The research question is presented in the form of a case to be solved by Data Detectives, whom we envision to be a team of students engaged in service