DATA - DRIVEN ENTERPRISE OFF YOUR BEAT Steve Doig Cronkite School of Journalism Arizona State University [email protected] @ sdoig
Jan 21, 2018
DATA-DRIVEN
ENTERPRISE
OFF YOUR BEATSteve Doig
Cronkite School of Journalism
Arizona State University
@sdoig
WHY DEVELOP
DATA SKILLS?
Your resume
Your resume
What have you done with data?
Our agenda today
How to:
• Identify the skills you need
• Find data on your beat
• Develop your data story idea
• Get started with Excel
• Pick your next data story
and get going!
WHAT SKILLS DO
YOU NEED?
Brain tools – math and statistics
Brain tools – math and statistics
FINDING DATA
FOR YOUR BEAT
Finding data story ideas
Data sources on your beat
• Local bureaucracy
• Whistleblowers
• Regulators
• Licensing bodies
• Lawmakers
• Federal agencies
• Academics
Recognize data when you see it
Recognize data when you see it
• Police corruption
• Campaign finance
• Vote fraud
• Slum lords
• Environmental problems
• Kickbacks to public officials
• Shady business practices
• Dangerous medical devices
• Racial discrimination
• Abusive teachers
Data-heavy
investigations
DEVELOPING YOUR
DATA STORY IDEA
Work backwards from your idea!
• What statements do you want to make?
• What variables are needed to make those
statements?
• Who would collect data with those
variables?
• How will you get the data from the collector?
1. Statements?
• Lede = your hypothesis
• Bullet points = your
statements
• Examples for a crime and courts story:
• “Crime has increased/decreased X %
since...”
• “The X per 100,000 violent crime rate of Y
City is the worst ...”
• “An average of X drivers are arrested every
day for DWI...”
1. Statements?
• Examples for a crime and courts story:
• “Robberies peak between X and Y o’clock
on Z day...”
• “Only X % of reported crimes result in
arrests...”
• “One out of every X vehicles registered in
Y City gets stolen ...”
• “The average sentence from Judge X for
robbery is Y years...”
1. Statements?
2. Variables needed?Columns are the variables.
2. Variables needed?Rows are records
2. Variables needed?• Two main kinds of variables:
• Categorical: Sex, city, postal code, type of
crime, hospital, type, etc...
2. Variables needed?• Two main kinds of variables:
• Numeric: Age, cost, population, weight,
arrests, revenue, income, etc...
• ...
• Example: variables for crime and courts story
• Type of crime
• Population
• Date, time
• Location
• Number of victims
• Arrest made?
• Disposition, judge, sentence...
2. Variables needed?
3. Who collects those variables?
4. Get the data!
Public records tools
Data formats?
EXCEL EXERCISES
Excel tools
•Sort
•Filter
•Functions
•Pivot tables