Comments on: Sorting Data in Excel: Simple Analysis http://www.anthonydebarros.com/2010/05/12/sorting-data-in-excel-simple-analysis/ DATA. JOURNALISM. LIFE. Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:56:06 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Anthonyhttp://www.anthonydebarros.com/2010/05/12/sorting-data-in-excel-simple-analysis/comment-page-1/#comment-386 Anthony Wed, 12 May 2010 14:02:04 +0000 http://www.anthonydebarros.com/?p=552#comment-386 Good point, Gregory. It's always good to leave yourself a breadcrumb trail to get back to where you started, and an ID field works wonders for that. Good point, Gregory. It’s always good to leave yourself a breadcrumb trail to get back to where you started, and an ID field works wonders for that.

]]> By: Gregory Kortehttp://www.anthonydebarros.com/2010/05/12/sorting-data-in-excel-simple-analysis/comment-page-1/#comment-385 Gregory Korte Wed, 12 May 2010 04:31:22 +0000 http://www.anthonydebarros.com/?p=552#comment-385 When I speak to reporters about database journalism, I often get the hackneyed excuses about journalists not being good at math. But as your example illustrates, often some pretty good reporting can come out of an operation no more sophisticated than ranking things from largest to smallest.The only other tip I'd add is to insert a new first column of any spreadsheet you're working with and label it "ID." Then put a "1" in the first row, a "2" in the second, and drag the lower right corner of the cell down to autofill the rest of the column with a unique number for each row.This has two purposes: (1) If you're sorting and you ever want to get the spreadsheet back to the original order the data came in, you can just sort by the ID row. And (2) if you ever graduate on to doing more sophisticated computer-assisted reporting, you'll be glad you got in the habit. Trust me. When I speak to reporters about database journalism, I often get the hackneyed excuses about journalists not being good at math. But as your example illustrates, often some pretty good reporting can come out of an operation no more sophisticated than ranking things from largest to smallest.

The only other tip I’d add is to insert a new first column of any spreadsheet you’re working with and label it “ID.” Then put a “1″ in the first row, a “2″ in the second, and drag the lower right corner of the cell down to autofill the rest of the column with a unique number for each row.

This has two purposes: (1) If you’re sorting and you ever want to get the spreadsheet back to the original order the data came in, you can just sort by the ID row. And (2) if you ever graduate on to doing more sophisticated computer-assisted reporting, you’ll be glad you got in the habit. Trust me.

]]> By: Tweets that mention ANTHONY DeBARROS » Sorting Data in Excel: Simple Analysis -- Topsy.comhttp://www.anthonydebarros.com/2010/05/12/sorting-data-in-excel-simple-analysis/comment-page-1/#comment-384 Tweets that mention ANTHONY DeBARROS » Sorting Data in Excel: Simple Analysis -- Topsy.com Wed, 12 May 2010 04:14:32 +0000 http://www.anthonydebarros.com/?p=552#comment-384 [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Anthony DeBarros. Anthony DeBarros said: Tell your reporter friends that they must, must, must learn how to sort data in Excel. No excuses. Here's a tutorial: http://bit.ly/9Ypdmp [...] [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Anthony DeBarros. Anthony DeBarros said: Tell your reporter friends that they must, must, must learn how to sort data in Excel. No excuses. Here's a tutorial: http://bit.ly/9Ypdmp [...]

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