Career

Using Quantitative Skills in Journalism

May 1, 2013 20536

Quantitative Skills (QS)  can give you the edge over other journalists, enable you to source stories from within data sets and critically engage with ‘evidence’ from politicians! Find out more from the Guardian DataBlog Editor and a BBC Business Reporter.

Simon Rogers
Guardian DataBlog Editor

“I always wanted to tell stories with words: I couldn’t have imagined telling them with numbers, but that’s how it’s worked out.”

Tell us about your studies and early encounters with QS.
I was terrible at maths at school and absolutely hated it. At university I studied Sociology before going on to do a newspaper course.

How did you first start using QS in your work?
My first job was to compile a database for a branding magazine, so I quickly got into collating information for a living. It was very much part of my job as a news editor at the Guardian. I started collecting data and soon needed ways to bring together and compare datasets. Most data-journalism answers very simple questions: has it got smaller or bigger? How does it compare to something else? So I needed the tools to do those jobs.

How do you use QS in your work now?
I now edit the Guardian Datablog and Datastore, which publishes and analyses the data behind the news – the idea is to make the big stories much more accessible.

What advice would you pass on to current students about QS?
QS give you a way of seeing the world, of working out what’s really going on. But make sure you don’t neglect the qualitative too: numbers on their own are just numbers. They need context to bring them alive.

 

Anthony Reuben
BBC Business Reporter

“Being comfortable with numbers sets you apart from many other journalists.”

Tell us about your studies and early experiences of QS.
I did an interesting project for A-Level Maths analysing the results of every cricket test match between England and Australia. Looking at the stats enabled me to conclude that we were experiencing a golden age of test cricket.  I went on to study Philosophy, Politics and Economics at university.

How have you used QS in your work?
My analysis of the figures behind the Spending Review won me the Royal Statistical Society’s award for excellence in online journalism last year. I have also been working on interactive, data-led applications such as the BBC’s budget calculator and student finance calculator.

What advice would you give budding journalists regarding the importance of QS?
Having QS will make you stand out. They will help you to develop the alarm bells that go off in your head when PR companies send you bogus research or governments announce figures that do not add up.

These case studies represent a selection from the British Academy’s Stand Out and Be Counted booklet.

READ RELATED ARTICLES

Five minutes with Andrew Herbert: former Chairman of Microsoft Research
Bridging Theory with Practice:Qualitative Research to Aid Fire & Rescue
Gathering Data for Policy Makers, Business and the Public
Property Crime, Violence and Recession

The British Academy is the UK’s national body which champions and supports the humanities and social sciences. It is an independent, self-governing fellowship of scholars, elected for their distinction in research and publication. Our purpose is to inspire, recognise and support excellence in the humanities and social sciences, throughout the UK and internationally, and to champion their role and value.

View all posts by British Academy

Related Articles

Three Decades of Rural Health Research and a Bumper Crop of Insights from South Africa
Impact
March 27, 2024

Three Decades of Rural Health Research and a Bumper Crop of Insights from South Africa

Read Now
Using Translational Research as a Model for Long-Term Impact
Impact
March 21, 2024

Using Translational Research as a Model for Long-Term Impact

Read Now
Coping with Institutional Complexity and Voids: An Organization Design Perspective for Transnational Interorganizational Projects
Research
March 19, 2024

Coping with Institutional Complexity and Voids: An Organization Design Perspective for Transnational Interorganizational Projects

Read Now
2024 Holberg Prize Goes to Political Theorist Achille Mbembe
News
March 14, 2024

2024 Holberg Prize Goes to Political Theorist Achille Mbembe

Read Now
Edward Webster, 1942-2024: South Africa’s Pioneering Industrial Sociologist

Edward Webster, 1942-2024: South Africa’s Pioneering Industrial Sociologist

Eddie Webster, sociologist and emeritus professor at the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, died on March 5, 2024, at age 82.

Read Now
Charles V. Hamilton, 1929-2023: The Philosopher Behind ‘Black Power’

Charles V. Hamilton, 1929-2023: The Philosopher Behind ‘Black Power’

Political scientist Charles V. Hamilton, the tokenizer of the term ‘institutional racism,’ an apostle of the Black Power movement, and at times deemed both too radical and too deferential in how to fight for racial equity, died on November 18, 2023. He was 94.

Read Now
Norman B. Anderson, 1955-2024: Pioneering Psychologist and First Director of OBSSR

Norman B. Anderson, 1955-2024: Pioneering Psychologist and First Director of OBSSR

Norman B. Anderson, a clinical psychologist whose work as both a researcher and an administrator saw him serve as the inaugural director of the U.S. National Institute of Health’s Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research and as chief executive officer of the American Psychological Association, died on March 1.

Read Now
5 1 vote
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

3 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Mass Communication

I was curious if you ever considered changing the structure of your website?

Its very well written; I love what youve got to say.
But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better.
Youve got an awful lot of text for only having one or
two pictures. Maybe you could space it out better?