#NICAR2016: New approaches to the same old data

Credit: Image by r. nial bradshaw on Flickr. Some rights reserved. 

In the cycle of news, some data stories inevitably come around again and again, such as elections, test scores, and weather.

So how can journalists get a fresh take on subjects they've covered many times before?

At the NICAR conference in Denver, Colorado, today, editors and journalists from The New York Times and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution shared ideas and techniques for digging into well-trodden stories.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC)

Stories on exam results and test scores are a mainstay for most newsrooms.

But John Perry, technical director at the AJC's data journalism team, aware of how these standardised tests were often manipulated, thought there was a different story to tell.

"I really came away from my experience looking at test scores from this period in time with an opinion that we have an education strategy that's based entirely on measurement error," said Perry, who has been a data specialist at AJC since 2008.

AJC discovered widespread cheating, both in Atlanta and across the United States.

The team looked at the context behind the test score data, investigating factors such as whether the test centres had adequate security.

"We found there are innumerable ways to cheat on these tests," said Perry.

"One teacher walked around the classroom with a bag of red M&Ms and green M&Ms and looked over the students' shoulder and gave them one or the other depending on the answer they had given.

"There were things on the walls that should not have been on the walls.

The resulting nationwide investigation into cheating on standardised tests was a finalist for the 2013 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting.

The most important thing, said Perry, is to never take data at face value.

"When you look at those numbers, ask questions of them," he said.

The New York Times

Rather than experimenting with data storytelling methods, The New York Times is currently focused on finding ways to improve how its newsroom is able to process large quantities of data.

This is especially important given the upcoming US election, both in terms of how effective the NYT is at covering the caucuses and debates, but also to reduce the risk of burnout within the newsroom.

"There has been a lot of evolution and innovation in the way that we do things, that most of you guys will never see," said Chase Davis, deputy editor on the interactive news desk at The New York Times.

"Because a large portion of it is designed to keep us sane within the office."

At the end of last year, The New York Times announced Elex, a tool produced in collaboration with NPR, which made it easier to process the election data distributed by AP.

The look of the Times's election coverage has not changed much over the last four years, aside from a few design tweaks.

Davis is confident that when it comes to live updates on election data, people "really just want to know who's winning at any given point in the evening".

Identifying that factor has freed up time in the newsroom to focus on how to get results out as quickly and accurately as possible, with what Davis defines as "a relatively small team".

"Basically, there's not an election night or a primary night that does not improve the process in some small way," he added.

• Follow @abigailedge on Twitter for updates from NICAR on March 10 and 11.

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