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In the article,  “Mortality in the North Dublin Union during the Great Famine,” the authors bring up the idea that underlying factors should be considered when we interpret data given to us. They give the example of workhouses during the famine. While one workhouse could have an impecable survival rate, it could be because they had less severe cases to attend to. On the other hand, a workhouse that had a high percentage of deaths could have had people near-death come to them, making their jobs a lot harder. An idea like this- that data is dependent on the individual’s situation- should be considered when we analyze all data. Background information should always be given so we have context and can approach the data with full knowledge on the situation. Without it, people could assume that those workhouses with better survival rates are much better than those with lower rates, when in actuality we don’t know if they are better due to the differences in the cases they received.