How to: Excel for journalists

Excel for journalists

Part 1: analyze your data

Copyright - Hille van der Kaa
www.deuitgeeffabriek.nl

Microsoft Excel is a powerful tool
for analyzing data and discovering
interesting patterns.
Journalists can use it to:

• sort data
• filter data
• calculate data
• make pivot tables

(and so many other things I will
not discuss in this presentation…)


• In this case, we want to analyze the number of
stolen bikes and cars in five different cities and
two provinces in The Netherlands.
• Therefore we start with sorting the number of
stolen bikes and cars per city.
• All numbers are fictional….


Please enter these fictional data in your spreadsheet


• Excel organizes your data in
table form, with rows and
columns.
• The columns (which are
labeled A, B, C…) list the
variables (in this case city,
province, bike, car)
Typically, the first row holds
the names of the variables.
• The rest of the rows are for
the individual records or
cases being analyzed. Each
cell (like B2) holds a piece of
data.


Sort data
• In journalism, we usually are interested in
extremes like: the least, the most, the biggest
or the smallest.
• Excel helps you to look for this by sorting the
data into a revealing order.
• In this case, we would like to sort the data in
descending order of the total number of
stolen bikes, with the most crime-ridden city
at the top.


• There are two methods of sorting. The first
method is quick and can be used for sorting by
a single variable.


Put the cursor in the column you wish to sort and then click the
Z-A button.


Now you have the number of stolen bikes in descending order


Beware!
• Put the cursor in the column, do not select
the column letter (C, in this case) and then
sort.
• Doing that will sort only the data in that
column, and disorder your data!


• The other method of sorting is useful when
you want to sort by more than one variable.
• For instance, suppose we wish to sort the
crime data first by provinces in alphabetical
order, and then by “bike” in descending order
within each city.


To do this, look for the toolbar, click on “Data” and then “Sort”…


choose the variables by which you wish to sort. Then click “OK”.


Now you have the number of stolen bikes in descending order
per province


Filter data
• Sometimes you want to examine only
particular records from a large collection of
data.
• In this case, suppose we only wish to see the
records from Middelburg. For this, you can use
Excel’s Filter tool.


On the toolbar, go to “Data…Filter”. Small buttons will appear at
the top of each column.


Click on the button on the cities column and choose Middelburg
from the list.


Now you have filtered the results from Middelburg.


• More complicated filters are possible. For
instance, suppose you wish to see only
records in which “bike” is greater than or
equal to 3.
• ‘Undo’ your previous filter by clicking on
above your toolbar and…..


click on the bike filter button and choose “Number Filter”….


Now enter ‘3’….


…. and you will only see the cities with 3 or more stolen bikes.


Calculate data
• Excel has many built-in functions useful for
performing math functions.
• For instance, assume that we wish to calculate
the total number of bike crimes in all the
provinces.


Go to the bottom of Column C, skip a row, and then enter this
formula in Cell C9: =SUM(C2:C7).

The equals sign (=) is necessary for all
functions. The colon (:) means “all the
numbers from Cell C2 to Cell C7”.


Now you have the sum of the numbers in C2 to C7


• Often you will want to do a calculation on
each row of your data table.
• For instance, you might want to calculate the
crime rate (the number of crimes per 100,000
population), which would let you compare the
crime problem in cities of different sizes.


Please enter the (fictional) number of population in your
datasheet


Create a new variable called “Crime Rate” in Column F. Then, in
Cell F2, enter this formula: =(C2/E2)*100000

Notice that there are no spaces and no
thousands separators used in the formula


This divides the total crimes by the population, then multiplies
the result by 100,000. This is your crime rate.


Click on the column and ‘format cells’ to adjust the number of
decimal places (2) if you like.


Now you have the crime rate with two decimals.


• Excel has a way to rapidly copy a formula
down a column of cells. To do that, you move
the cursor (normally a white cross) to the
bottom right corner of the cell containing the
formula.


When it is in the right spot, the cursor will change to a small black cross. At
that point, you can double-click and the formula will copy down the column
until it reaches a blank cell in the column to the left.


You can do the same to the right


Now, if we sort by ‘crime rate bike’ in descending order, we see
the cities with the worst bike crime problems:


Excel has various functions that can be used in similar ways

=AVERAGE – will give you the arithmetic mean of a column or row of numbers

=COUNT – counts the number of items there are in a column or row

=MAX – to look for the largest value in a column or row

=MIN – to look for the smallest value in a column or row

You can add, subtract, multiply or divide
by using the symbols + - * and /.

pivot table
• A pivot table creates an interactive cross-
tabulation of the data by category.
• This will summarize data in categories and
provides a useful table to play around with
your data.


Make sure your cursor is in some cell in the table. Then go to the
tool bar and click on “insert” “Pivot Table”.


Choose the data you want to analyze


Here you will have your pivot table


• Our example data shows 5 cities in the 2
provinces of The Netherlands.
• Imagine that you want to know the total
number of car crimes in each province. The list
that would answer that question would show
each province, with the total number of
crimes next to each name.


Pick up “province” from the list of variables in the floating box to
the right, place it in the “row labels” box. Take the “car” variable
and put it in the “values” box.


• Using a pivot table is a great way to explore
your data. Please make sure you make a new
pivot table for each question. This will help
you not getting lost in your data.


• Want to know more
about using Excel for
your journalistic
research?

• Contact me by info@deuitgeeffabriek for
workshops.
• Read the Dutch ‘Handboek
Datajournalistiek.’
• Follow me on Twitter @Hillevanderkaa
• Or just look for the enormous amount of
tutorials on YouTube!


How to: Excel for journalists

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