Data for Journalists Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Spreadsheets, Part One: Basic Math for Journalists.

Here are links to websites and additional readings and to practice data for the hands-on exercises in Chapter Four. The exercises cover how to calculate totals, mean (average), median, percentages and percentage differences. The exercises also cover sorting a worksheet. Other data will be added to the chapter for practice.

  • Exercises

Suggested exercises include:

1. Get a dataset of names and salaries from a local or regional government agency.

2. Also, get a part of a government budget that covers two or three years in a spreadsheet or convert a pdf file into spreadsheet.

3. Sort in descending order the dataset of salaries using amount. Do the same for the budget.

4. Calculate the average and median for the salaries.

5. Calculate the difference and percentage difference between the most recent year of the budget and the last year.

6. Summarize your findings in a memo

  • Data

Spreadsheet with Chapter 4 data: Team

Spreadsheet with Chapter 4 data: Cronies

 

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