The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. Add to that more than 3,000 tipsheets from our national conferences on how to cover specific beats or do specific stories and you have a resource that no reporter or editor should be without. These stories and tipsheets are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Logged-in members can view the tipsheets free online:
Search results for "dirty data" ...
-
Down and dirty with the DocumentCloud API
Welsh talks about how the Los Angeles Times uses DocumentCloud. Learn how to use DocumentCloud's API to interact with your documents and how to update or access documents' data with scripting.
Tags: DocumentCloud; DocumentCloud's API; documents; data; scripting
-
Data Validation in the Digital Age
We know "data is dirty", but do you know it might not be valid or even how it came to be?
Tags: Data
-
Your Data is Dirty
Armendariz's PowerPoint gives you instructions on how to use data to report on disasters when they strike and how to make connections.
Tags: data; natural disasters; OpenLayers; Geodjango
-
Essential Analysis: Data Integrity Checks
powerpoint presentation that reminds journalists what to check when they get data and shows how to look for dirty data using database managers or SPSS. also mentions extensive data documentation [and clean-up of dirty data] that IRE and NICAR include with the databases available from the Database library.
Tags: data; tables; documentary; file format; record layout; data dictionary; outliers; variations; dirty data; database manager; SPSS;
-
What Every Editor Should Know about CAR
Campbell explains things that editors need to know about computer-assisted reporting in order to work well with CAR reporters. He discusses how data can be dirty, incomplete and biased. He explains how it can be easy to make a mistake with CAR, but also how it is very importatn to include CAR in investigative stories.
Tags: computer assisted reporting; data analysis; newsroom management; story editing
-
Welcome to the Real World: Importing, rearranging and cleaning data
Porter takes us from the very first steps of database analysis (importing the data) all the way to organizing and cleaning the data. He discusses how to parse data, and how to eliminate inconsistencies in place and person names. For each step Porter describes, he includes screen shots from Microsoft Access to illustrate the tip.
Tags: data analysis; technology; SQL; dirty data; computer-assisted reporting
-
Campaign Finance: Avoiding Pitfalls
This tipsheet is a list of tips to help reporters from making common mistakes with campaign finance data. The list includes tips about working with raw data and avoiding mistakes because of data formatting and dirty data.
Tags: data analysis; troubleshooting; computer - assisted reporting; CAR
-
Bad Data Does Not Make Good Stories
If you think you're safe with federal election data as supplied by the FEC and most secondary suppliers, think again. One popular website runs lists of the Top 200 donors in each state. Variations in name cause the same company or individual to be listed more than once on a list. Companies that donate from more than one state are frequently found on more than one list. Watch for dirty data.
Tags: CAR
-
Tipsheet No: 695
This handout covers the basics of how to clean data. The handout focuses on dealing with string functions and dates and reading syntax descriptions. No audio tape available.
Tags: 9 pgs.
-
Tipsheet No: 485
Milliron's handout is a list of Internet sites that host searchable databases of newsworthy value to journalists. These sites were active as of June 2 and include everything from the Aviation Medical Examiners Database, Supreme Court opinions, and telephone directories to Chemical Health and Safety Data, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and the Military Locater Service. A must for anyone doing research online with a total of 83 listings. Audio tape available through the IRE Resource Center at (573) 882-3364 or rescntr@ ire.org. Ask for tape #IRE96-04.
Tags: Quick and dirty CAR: Deadline reporting with on-line and in-house services 12 pgs.