Data Skills for Media Professionals - A Basic Guide

Teaches the basic, yet all-important, data skills required by today's media professionals
 
The authors of Data Skills for Media Professionals have assembled a book that teaches key aspects of data analysis, interactive data visualization and online map-making through an introduction to Google Drive, Google Sheets, and Google My Maps, all free, highly intuitive, platform-agnostic tools available to any reader with a computer and a web connection. Delegating the math and design work to these apps leaves readers free to do the kinds of thinking that media professionals do most often: considering what questions to ask, how to ask them, and how to evaluate and communicate the answers.
 
Although focused on Google apps, the book draws upon complementary aspects of the free QGIS geographic information system, the free XLMiner Analysis ToolPak Add-on for Google Sheets, and the ubiquitous Microsoft Excel spreadsheet application. Worked examples rely on frequently updated data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Federal Election Commission, the National Bridge Inventory of structurally deficient bridges, and other federal sources, giving readers the option of immediately applying what they learn to current data they can localize to any area in the United States. The book offers chapters covering: basic data analysis; data visualization; making online maps; Microsoft Excel and pivot tables; matching records with Excel's VLOOKUP function; basic descriptive and inferential statistics; and other functions, tools and techniques.
* Serves as an excellent supplemental text for easily adding data skills instruction to courses in beginning or advanced writing and reporting
* Features computer screen captures that illustrate each step of each procedure
* Offers downloadable datasets from a companion web page to help students implement the techniques themselves
* Shows realistic examples that illustrate how to perform each technique and how to use it on the job
 
Data Skills of Media Professionals is an excellent book for students taking skills courses in the more than 100 ACEJMC-accredited journalism and mass communication programs across the United States. It would also greatly benefit those enrolled in advanced or specialized reporting courses, including courses dedicated solely to teaching data skills.

List of contents

Preface ix
 
1 Basic Data Analysis 1
 
Some Example Data 1
 
An Introductory Tool: Google Sheets 3
 
Getting the Data into a Google Sheet 4
 
Getting a Fixed Copy of the Data 9
 
Formatting the Data 11
 
Cleaning the Data 12
 
Planning your Analysis 13
 
Filtering 14
 
Calculating 17
 
Labeling and Tidying Up 21
 
Sorting 22
 
Where's the "Save" Button? 24
 
Writing About the Analysis Results 24
 
Recap 26
 
References 26
 
2 Data Visualization 27
 
Preparing Your Data 28
 
Making a Column Chart 29
 
Publishing the Chart to the Web 33
 
Choosing the Right Type of Chart 35
 
Recap 41
 
References 41
 
3 Making Online Maps 43
 
Downloading a Shapefile 44
 
Importing the Shapefile into QGIS 45
 
Examining the Shapefile and Joining it with the Unemployment Data 47
 
Customizing and Publishing the Map File with Google My Maps 54
 
Mapping Specific Points with Latitude and Longitude Coordinates 64
 
Mapping Specific Points with Addresses 73
 
Making a Map When You Have no Geolocation Data to Import 77
 
Recap 83
 
References 84
 
4 Microsoft Excel and PivotTables 85
 
Introducing PivotTables 85
 
Getting Started: Aggregating Contributions by City 89
 
Using the PivotTable Tool's "Filters" Box 92
 
Using the PivotTable Tool's "Columns" Box 94
 
Investigating Relatedness 96
 
Spotting the Absence of a Relationship 105
 
Downloading Campaign Finance Data from the Federal Election Commission 107
 
Excel vs. Google Sheets 111
 
Recap 112
 
References 113
 
5 Matching Records with Excel's VLOOKUP 115
 
Overview 118
 
Aggregating each Candidate's Donations by Source 119
 
Using VLOOKUP 122
 
Using Filters to Create a Classification Column 127
 
VLOOKUP Pitfalls 129
 
Recap 131
 
References 131
 
6 Google Sheets and Inferential Statistics 133
 
Sampling and Assumptions of Inferential Statistics 134
 
Getting the Data and Installing the XLMiner Google Sheets Add-on 136
 
Computing and Understanding Basic Inferential Statistics 138
 
Descriptive Statistics and Confidence Intervals 140
 
The One-sample T-test 143
 
The One-sample Chi-square Test 148
 
Knowing which Test to Use 152
 
Computing and Understanding Basic Bivariate Statistics 154
 
Two-sample T-tests 154
 
Chi-square Analysis of a PivotTable 158
 
Correlation Between Two Continuous Variables: Regression 164
 
Recap 169
 
References 170
 
7 Other Functions, Tools and Techniques 171
 
DATE, NOW, and DATEDIF 171
 
AVERAGE, STDEV, MEDIAN, MIN, MAX 173
 
RAND 175
 
LEFT, MID, and RIGHT 175
 
The "Text to Columns" Wizard 177
 
CONCATENATE 179
 
IF and IFS 180
 
IFERROR 182
 
COMBIN and PERMUT 183
 
Google Forms 184
 
Comparing Numbers Over Time 187
 
Adjusting for Inflation 187
 
Adjusting for Population Changes 188
 
Recap 190
 
References 190
 
Index 191

About the author

KEN BLAKE, PHD, is Associate Professor of Journalism and Strategic Media at Middle Tennessee State University. He researches public opinion and teaches undergraduate courses in writing and reporting, as well as a graduate course in empirical media theory. JASON REINEKE, PHD, is Associate Professor of Journalism and Strategic Media at Middle Tennessee State University. He teaches an undergraduate course in free expression, as well as a graduate course in quantitative research methods, and has published in some of the field's top academic journals.

Summary

Teaches the basic, yet all-important, data skills required by today's media professionals

The authors of Data Skills for Media Professionals have assembled a book that teaches key aspects of data analysis, interactive data visualization and online map-making through an introduction to Google Drive, Google Sheets, and Google My Maps, all free, highly intuitive, platform-agnostic tools available to any reader with a computer and a web connection. Delegating the math and design work to these apps leaves readers free to do the kinds of thinking that media professionals do most often: considering what questions to ask, how to ask them, and how to evaluate and communicate the answers.

Although focused on Google apps, the book draws upon complementary aspects of the free QGIS geographic information system, the free XLMiner Analysis ToolPak Add-on for Google Sheets, and the ubiquitous Microsoft Excel spreadsheet application. Worked examples rely on frequently updated data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Federal Election Commission, the National Bridge Inventory of structurally deficient bridges, and other federal sources, giving readers the option of immediately applying what they learn to current data they can localize to any area in the United States. The book offers chapters covering: basic data analysis; data visualization; making online maps; Microsoft Excel and pivot tables; matching records with Excel's VLOOKUP function; basic descriptive and inferential statistics; and other functions, tools and techniques.
* Serves as an excellent supplemental text for easily adding data skills instruction to courses in beginning or advanced writing and reporting
* Features computer screen captures that illustrate each step of each procedure
* Offers downloadable datasets from a companion web page to help students implement the techniques themselves
* Shows realistic examples that illustrate how to perform each technique and how to use it on the job

Data Skills of Media Professionals is an excellent book for students taking skills courses in the more than 100 ACEJMC-accredited journalism and mass communication programs across the United States. It would also greatly benefit those enrolled in advanced or specialized reporting courses, including courses dedicated solely to teaching data skills.

Product details

• Authors: K Blake, Ke Blake, Ken Blake, Ken Reineke Blake, Blake Ken, Jason Reineke, Reineke Jason
• Publisher: Wiley, John and Sons Ltd
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.08.2019
• EAN: 9781119118961
• ISBN: 978-1-119-11896-1
• No. of pages: 224
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Sociological theories; Journalismus, Berichterstattung, Journalism, Communication & Media Studies, Kommunikation u. Medienforschung, Berichterstattung, Schreiben u. Redaktion, Massenmedien u. Gesellschaft, Mass Media & Society, Reporting, Writing & Editing