Data Reporting

MPJO-722-01: Data Reporting

Text as Data

Links

• The Words That Were Used
• Web Frequency Indexer
• MLK's I Have A Dream Speech
• In-cell bar graphs

Assignments for Jan. 22

Text Data

Using the tools we used in class, create a word frequency index on this 2009 Senate speech by Sen. Inhofe. Copy the results into Excel or a Google spreadsheet. Then do an in-cell bar chart like we did in class, using the REPT() function, and calculate the percent of total words that each word represents. If you were writing about Inhofe and climate change, what topics do the word frequency index and the in-cell bar chart suggest?

CSV Data

Download the CSV file of the House vote on assistance for Hurricane Sandy victims and open it up in Excel. Be sure to save it as an Excel file. Then add a column called "geography" and, using a filter, populate that column by labeling representatives from states that border the Atlantic Ocean or Gulf of Mexico as either "Atlantic" or "Gulf" (you won't label every row). Then, again using a filter (remember that a filter will count up the number of records that it finds), tell me how many Republicans from Atlantic-facing states Yes and how many voted No. Do the same for Gulf-state representatives. Send me the spreadsheet with either the Atlantic or Gulf filter activated - just turn on the filter and then save the file before sending.

Email me the Excel file with the in-cell bar chart based on the word frequency index and a note about the possible avenues of reporting, plus the Excel file of the vote and the Yes/No totals for the Atlantic and Gulf-state Republicans.