Whether you’re writing about your city’s rental market, looking at temperature trends in your area, or covering flu hospitalizations in your community, you can ground your story in evidence by analyzing and including relevant scientific data.
It takes a little legwork to know where to look for publicly available data—or how to track down less accessible data—and how to interpret them. But dipping your toes into data journalism is worth the payoff of a more informed audience.
Once you find an interesting dataset you’d like to explore, there are a few steps you can take to vet its usefulness and quality:
If a dataset passes your initial quality check, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and do some analysis.
This might sound daunting, but remember: you don’t need a degree in statistics to turn a dataset into a compelling story. There are concrete steps you can take and tools to assist you:
Copy the dataset into your own spreadsheet that you can customize according to your needs. Then, consider whether you need to “clean” the dataset. Do you need to standardize column names or delete irrelevant sections?
As you prep your dataset, be careful not to change the data points themselves!
Try out multiple questions with your analysis. Ask yourself: What role might each variable play in a larger story?
Could something be an indicator of a larger trend? What could you learn by comparing two variables? Like you do in the reporting and writing process, let yourself explore different avenues for telling a story.
Take it slow! It can be easy to be misled by data as you go down a rabbit hole.
Think about what the data aren’t showing—what are their limitations? Are there discrepancies between what’s there and the story you’d like to tell?
The same way you’d record interviews and hang onto your notes, keep track of the different things you try as you’re analyzing the dataset.
This will help you retrace your steps if you get stuck, and it will make it easier for a colleague or expert to review your work—which, like fact-checking, is good journalistic practice.
There are several tools you can use to organize and analyze data, many of which are free.
Here are some resources to help with data analysis:
Data visualization can be a helpful storytelling tool.
You can display data in all kinds of visual formats, including infographics, charts, and maps. As you decide what works for your data, think about the format that communicates the information most clearly. Focus on delivering a key takeaway, as you would for a written story. See below for a quick introduction to data visualization:
Charts are a familiar way to visualize data:
Don’t be afraid to get creative with interactive graphics that allow readers to guide their own journey through a story, based on their curiosity. Think about how users could filter data by demographic traits, scroll over individual data points, or search through a map to explore trends in their area.
Several online tools exist to walk you through creating your own data visualizations, some with minimal or no coding required. Check out some examples in the table below
