Link Search Menu Expand Document
Data reporting @ Cronkite

Filter and sort with population data

Data file: countypops_withinfo.xlsx

This data is from every county in the country, which has been merged with two other county-level datasets: basic demographics and a set of county typology codes, which tells you a little more about them.

These datasets are documented in a sketchy way in the file itself.

Step 1: The data

Download the spreadsheet to get started.

Look over the documentation and the names of the fields that are listed in the file. Set some filters and do some sorts so that you have a good sense of the range of values in the spreadsheet, and the kinds of fields you have.

Step 2: Document your work

Create a Google doc for your data diary.

At the top, think up three questions that this dataset could potentially answer that might lead to a story.

To make your questions, you should assume:

  • You are a local reporter in Arizona
  • The topline numbers – the ranking of your state and county in basic population and growth – have already been reported. In other words, you’re looking for what we might call a second-day story.

Spend 15 minutes exploring the data and looking up what other stories might have been done in Cronkite / Arizona PBS and the Arizona Republic about these population figures over the past few years. (Hint: use the site:azcentral.com and site:cronkitenews.azpbs.org advanced searches to limit your Google search to those two sources.)

Remember that we are looking at five-year trends, while many of the stories are showing just the change for one year.

You might decide to limit your analysis to a subset of counties that are somehow connected, such as those with a significant Native American population, or those that are in other Mountain states, or those with high poverty to compare our area to others. This is an opportunity to go into more depth into something that is Arizona-relevant.

Make sure you document your work in your Google doc.

Step 3: Find some news

When you’ve answered all of the potentially interesting questions you can think of for this dataset, write a lede paragraph for a potential story that you would then report out on the ground.