4 takeaways:
➀ Building data muscle takes time. But it’s worth the effort, John D. Harden told NPF Widening the Pipeline Fellows. [Transcript | Video] He started by learning code and building interactive data visualizations that allowed him to dig deeper into reams of data. That led to bigger data sets and mastering the use of Excel. When that skill seemed limited by the number of rows in the program, he learned how to use R, another coding software, which opened new horizons. These days, Harden said it’s about combining all that knowledge, “not necessarily realizing where it’s going to go until I have these data sets to piece together, all these puzzle pieces to find that throughline to carry the story on.”
➁ To use data, understand where it lives. There are myriad data portals within counties, states and regions, Harden said. And of course, many cities have their own data portals. But it’s important to learn how to ask for data, because it may exist, but just not on a widely accessed database. Once you’ve zeroed in on the type of data you need, you might have to build your own database. Listen for buzzwords in public meetings, Harden advised, because if an official says something increased by X percent, there’s probably data to back it up.
➂ Numbers can reveal hard truths. Harden reminded fellows of the need to see real people in the numbers, versus generalities. For example, when headlines suggested that the pandemic had lowered crime rates because people weren’t interacting as much, Harden did his own local analysis using crime data merged with Census data. Based on race and income level, violent crime rose in communities of color versus white communities. “I love doing those stories because it just shows that your reality is not everyone’s reality,” he said.
➃ Data curveballs are a good thing. Don’t be married to what you think the data is telling you, Harden said. In one of his recent investigations, about how COVID affected local businesses, a Virginia database unearthed a sharp upward trend in the number of businesses operating during the pandemic. But boarded-up storefronts in DC seemed to indicate a totally different pattern. “When I saw that, I knew that I probably had a different story that I needed to pursue,” Harden said. “Usually, when I have a perception or an idea about a story and then the data proves that wrong, sometimes that’s a good thing.”
The Widening the Pipeline Fellowship is sponsored by the Evelyn Y. Davis Foundation, Bayer, J&J and Twitter. NPF is solely responsible for the content.
