HW3

Andrea Johnson

• “Numbers in the Newsroom”
  1. It’s good to explain the context of numbers. I read an article from the New York Times that caught my attention because the story covered Spanish-speakers in the U.S. and compared it to the number of Spanish-speakers in Spain. The journalist wrote that the U.S. has a greater number of Spanish-speakers than Spain, but our population is over seven times the size of Spain’s population. I think it would have been better to write what percentage of Americans speak Spanish or give a ratio of English to Spanish speakers.
  2. In what circumstances would you include the original numbers?
• “Reading a Data Dictionary”
  1. Where do you usually find the data dictionary to a set of data?
  2. To be honest, downloading data intimidates me because I’m afraid I’ll misinterpret something and present incorrect statistics as fact. These questions will be a great guide.
• “How to avoid 10 common mistakes in data reporting”
  1. What are a few examples of small discrepancies that may need to be cleaned up?
  2. I agree that breaks are important. What’s the longest you’ve ever spent analyzing data?