Advanced Mathematics in Mass Journalism By Paul Rossman March 18, 2008

A Brief Introduction What is Computer-Assisted Reporting? –First instance used in 1952 Election –Later pioneered by Philip Meyer, professor and Knight Chair at UNC-Chapel Hill –Today CAR skills are used in newsrooms across the country and the world –No student or beginning journalist should be without these skills.

A step further But some journalists are using techniques rooted in mathematics to create a new brand of “analytic journalism.”

Examples of Advanced Math Reporters of at the Dallas Morning News used a regression analysis last year to produce “Faking the Grade,” an analysis of student cheating on statewide exams. In 2006, the Kansas City Star used “performance measurement” to measure the quality of services provided by city government.

Examples of Advanced Math (cont). Paul Parker used simulation software to analyze the “what if?” questions that arose after a 2003 night club fire in Rhode Island. Before the 2004 election, the Washington Post used a social network analysis to analyze soft money contributions to John Kerry’s campaign.

Regression Analysis Some reporters have been using regression techniques for almost the last 20 years. –Many large newspapers, like USA Today, The New York Times, the Washington Post, use SPSS to perform analyses. –With the emergence of NICAR, more journalists are using SPSS.

Examples of Regression In 2005, David Leonhardt and Ford Fessenden of The New York Times used it to show that "over the last decade, black NBA coaches have lasted an average of just 1.6 seasons, compared with 2.4 seasons for white coaches.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution used it for “A Matter of Life and Death,” a four-day package of stories that documented how Georgia has failed to follow through on capital punishment reforms. MaryJo Webster of the St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press used a story called “Schools that Work, finding 13 high- poverty schools in Minnesota that are doing better than predicted.

Data Envelopment Analysis What is Data Envelopment Analysis? –It’s a nonparametric method in operations research and economics for the estimation of production frontiers. It is used to empirically measure productive efficiency of decision making units (or DMUs).

DEA (continued) DEA is relatively new technique in journalism used to analyze the efficiency of organizations. In 2006, the Kansas City Star used it to analyze the efficiency of city governments.

The Kansas City data They analyzed the efficiency of the police, fire department, municipal court, parks, street maintenance, water, sewer and solid waste. They then ranked these towns and then averaged their rankings, finding which citizens were getting the most service for their tax dollars.

Kansas City data example Police City Sworn officers Support staffBudget Crime IndexScore Belton, Mo Blue Springs, Mo Gladstone, Mo Grandview, Mo Independence, Mo Kansas City

Simulation Paul Parker of the Providence Journal used a computer model to analyze how people tried to escape during a nightclub fire. He used Simulex to create the model and to perform the analysis uation/ uation/

Social Network Analysis Social Network Analysis is a relatively new analysis type in journalism, being used widely for only about the last five years. The most widely used software is UCINET, made by Analytic Technologies.

Social Network Analysis SNA provides both a visual and a mathematical analysis of complex human systems. It consists of nodes (e.g. agents, organizations, donors) and edges (relationships) from various types of data.

Who’s used SNA? In 2004, The Kansas City Star used social network analysis software to visualize U.S. government allegations that the Islamic African Relief Agency (IARA) in Columbia, Mo., helped finance bin Laden and other terrorists. In 2004, the Washington Post used it to look at the campaign fundraising practices of President George W. Bush’s main contributors.

John Kerry’s contributions The Washington Post also used it to analyze Kerry’s donors in the 2004 election.

John Kerry’s contributions

Questions?