IRE: Ten irrefutable and nonnegotiable rules of responsible data journalism

data_journalism_rules_ire

Ten irrefutable and nonnegotiable rules of responsible data journalism
http://ire.org/blog/ire-news/2013/10/25/ten-irrefutable-and-nonnegotiable-rules-responsibl/

1. Remember to refer to data as plural, unless you find it annoying (and I do).

2. Always save a copy of the original data. Keep it somewhere safe. Never mess with it.

3. Understand the data before you touch it. Read any available documentation, go through the record layout, talk to the agency that keeps and/or created the data.

4. Assume nothing about your data: what’s in it, what’s not in it, what that ambiguous “date” field refers to; nothing.

5. Know your data. Run integrity checks on all of your columns, know the range of your date fields, the cleanliness of your geography fields; know it inside and out.

6. Check record counts. When you import data, check the number of records imported against the documentation, or ask the agency for a record count. When you slice a table or join two tables, make sure the count of the results makes sense.

7. Never make changes to any of your data columns. Create new columns for those changes.

8. Be suspicious. If your results don’t look right, or aren’t what you expected, investigate. Find out why.

9. Have someone else check your work, ideally someone who understands data but is not involved in the project.

10. Be confident. Don’t let fear make you second-guess your every move. If you’re careful and diligent, data can improve your story.