I've been working on the Analytics X Prize, which deals with predicting homicide rates. I find that I naturally look forward to new datapoints that to validate my model. Unfortunately, these anticipated "new datapoints" are new criminal homicides.
When you're working with datasets that record human tragedies, how do you deal emotionally with the fact that more data would make your job easier, validate your work, etc., but that more data also means more tragedy?
I imagine this would apply similarly to people who study disaster response. When something like the Haiti earthquake hits, the human in them must be horrified, but doesn't the researcher in them also naturally look forward to the research opportunities this sort of event creates?
How do you keep your analysis work from making you callous?
