STEM and Research Resources for Journalists
Math & Statistics
Tools
Online Calculators
CalculatorSoup. Mean, Median, Mode Calculator. https://www.calculatorsoup.com/calculators/statistics/mean-median-mode.php
Calculator Soup. Online Calculators. https://www.calculatorsoup.com/calculators/conversions/
Kohn M.A., & Senyak J. (Nov. 4, 2020). Sample Size Calculators https://sample-size.net/
Unit Conversions
DeWitt, T. (Sep. 12, 2012). Converting Units using Multiple Conversion Factors Part 1. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdZ00OFAfaQ
DeWitt, T. (Sep. 12, 2012). Converting Units using Multiple Conversion Factors Part 2. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKsPi-VXp5U
UnitConverters.net https://www.unitconverters.net/
Excel
Jon. (Feb. 4, 2015). Introduction to Pivot Tables, Charts, and Dashboards in Excel (Part 1). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NUjHBNWe9M
Jon. (Feb. 10, 2015). Introduction to Pivot Tables, Charts, and Dashboards in Excel (Part 2). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g530cnFfk8Y
Jon. (Feb. 18, 2015). Introduction to Pivot Tables, Charts, and Dashboards in Excel (Part 3). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyggutiBKvU
Kenji. (Jul. 31, 2022). Advanced Pivot Table Tricks ONLY Experts Know. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-K1jUY3jDs
MacDougall, J. (Jul. 22, 2019). Top 25 Advanced Pivot Table Tips & Tricks For Microsoft Excel. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmTxvkhzFPo
Meeks, D. Excel Functions. http://denisemeeks.com/science/notebooks/notebook_excel.php
Stratvert, K. (May 13, 2022). Excel Formulas and Functions. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8xhrUa3KH4
Stratvert, K. (May 20, 2019). Excel Pivot Tables. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0wI61ahfLc
Stratvert, K. (Nov. 24, 2020). How to use Microsoft Power Query. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aeZX1l4JT4
Stratvert, K. (Mar. 5, 2021). How to Use Power Pivot in Excel. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB_IiYbOo7w
Unknown. (Jun. 22, 2020). Advanced Pivot Table Tricks for Reporting and Analysis. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_ugVlcfm0k
Databases
Dane, M. (Jul. 2, 2018). SQL Tutorial - Full Database Course for Beginners. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXV3zeQKqGY
Database Normalization. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database_normalization
DB Browser for SQLite. https://sqlitebrowser.org/
MySQL Community Edition. https://www.mysql.com/products/community/
PopSQL Download.
SQLite. https://www.sqlite.org/index.html
Tableau Student Version. https://www.tableau.com/academic/students
Calculators
Dorazio, L. (June 4, 2019). TI-83/84 Guide for Introductory Statistics. San Francisco University High School. https://www.openintro.org/go/?id=stat_ti_83_84_guide&referrer=/book/isrs/index.php
Meeks, D. TI-84 Functions. http://denisemeeks.com/science/notebooks/notebook_excel.php
Statistical Software
Ba Tran, A. (2018). R for Journalists. https://learn.r-journalism.com/en/
Charts & Graphs
Cairo, A. (Oct. 17, 2019). How Charts Lie. C-SPAN. https://www.c-span.org/video/?465274-1/how-charts-lie
Gaslowitz, L. How to Spot a Misleading Graph. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E91bGT9BjYk
Glen, S. Misleading Graphs Real Life Examples. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1F7gm_BG0iQ
Journalist's Toolbox. Online Infographics. https://www.journaliststoolbox.org/2020/11/02/online_journalism/
Kealing Advanced Math 7. Misleading Graphs and Statistics. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQkNU4woTZg
Mackey, R. (July 19 2020). Trump Holds Up a Chart on Fox News That Shows He's Lying, Then Lies About What It Says. The Intercept. https://theintercept.com/2020/07/19/trump-holds-chart-fox-news-shows-hes-lying-lies-says/
Basic Math
Biology Project. BioMath. http://www.biology.arizona.edu/biomath/BioMath.html
Cox, P. Math Mistakes. http://www1.lasalle.edu/~beatty/310/ACES_CD/editing_and_writing/accuracy_and_fairness/Mathmistakes.pdf
Davies, K. (Dec. 11, 2019). Tackling Math Anxiety in Journalism Students. DataJournalism.com. https://datajournalism.com/read/longreads/math-anxiety-in-journalism
Journalist's Toolbox. Math for Journalists. https://www.journaliststoolbox.org/2020/11/02/writing_with_numbers/
Kilbridge, S. (Sep. 7, 2017). Newsroom Math Crib Sheet. National Center for Business Journalism. https://businessjournalism.org/2017/09/newsroom-math-crib-sheet/
Kille, L. W. (June 15, 2014). Math Basics for Journalists: Working with Averages and Percentages. https://journalistsresource.org/tip-sheets/foundations/math-for-journalists/
Krueger, V. (Jan. 13, 2016). Math for Journalists. https://www.poynter.org/educators-students/2016/math-for-journalists/
Martin, J. (Dec. 6, 2010). Journalists Need to Do the Math. Columbia Journalism Review. https://archives.cjr.org/behind_the_news/journalists_need_to_do_the_math.php
MathIsFun. (2017). Accuracy and Precision. https://www.mathsisfun.com/accuracy-precision.html
Ultimate Guide. Numbers in Journalism. https://www.ultimateguide.com.au/tools/numbers.php
Basic Statistics
Eberly College of Science. Empirical Rule. Penn State University. https://online.stat.psu.edu/stat200/lesson/2/2.2/2.2.7
Eberly College of Science. Introduction to Confidence Intervals. Penn State University. https://online.stat.psu.edu/stat200/lesson/4/4.2
Eberly College of Science. Statistics Online. Penn State University. https://online.stat.psu.edu/statprogram/
Hamer, A. (Aug. 1, 2019). Here's What a Chance of Rain Really Means. https://www.discovery.com/science/chance-of-rain
Journalist's Resource. (Aug. 1, 2019). What's standard deviation? 4 things journalists need to know. https://journalistsresource.org/media/standard-deviation-data-journalists/
Kille, L. W. (April 7, 2015). Statistics for Journalists. https://journalistsresource.org/tip-sheets/research/statistics-for-journalists/
Niles, R. Statistics for Writers. http://www.robertniles.com/stats/
Statistics How To. Statistics Basics. https://www.statisticshowto.com/statistics-basics/
ThoughtCo. What is the Interquartile Range Rule?
https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-the-interquartile-range-rule-3126244#:~:text=Using%20the%20Interquartile%20Rule%20
to%20Find%20Outliers&text=Multiply%20the%20interquartile%20range%20(IQR,IQR)%20from%20the%20first%20quartile.
Whitehead, J. C. An Introduction to Logistic Regression. http://www.appstate.edu/~whiteheadjc/service/logit/intro.htm
Topics
Politics & Polls
Berezow, A. (Dec. 14, 2019). Election Polls Should Report Confidence Intervals, Not Just Margins Of Error. American Council on Science and Health. https://www.acsh.org/news/2019/12/14/election-polls-should-report-confidence-intervals-not-just-margins-error-14452
Poynter. (May 2, 2019). How Journalists Should Report on Political Polls. https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2019/from-journalists-resource-covering-political-polls/
Romeu, J. L. (Nov. 13, 2019). Statistics Expert: How to Make Sense of Political Polls. Syracuse.com. https://www.syracuse.com/opinion/2019/11/statistics-expert-how-to-make-sense-of-political-polls-commentary.html
Samohyl, R. (2020). Sample Size and Uncertainty When Predicting with Polls: The Shortcomings of Confidence Intervals. Survey Practice, 13(1). https://doi.org/10.29115/SP-2020-0001
Wilson, S. Calculating Poll Sample Sizes and Confidence Interval. Sonoma State University. https://web.sonoma.edu/users/w/wilsonst/Courses/Math_165/Solns2/p4/default.html
Sports
CSGNetwork.com. Hockey Statistics Calculator. http://www.csgnetwork.com/hockeystatscalc.html
DeMonte, D. (May 6, 2020). Beginner's Guide to Advanced Hockey Statistics. Northwestern Sports Analytics Group. https://sites.northwestern.edu/nusportsanalytics/2020/05/06/advanced-hockey-statistics/
O'Connor, C. (Oct. 9, 2017). An Advanced Stat Primer: Understanding Basic Hockey Metrics. The Athletic. https://theathletic.com/121980/2017/10/09/an-advanced-stat-primer-understanding-basic-hockey-metrics/
Medicine
Poynter. How to Make Sense of Numbers in Science and Health Reports. https://www.poynter.org/educators-students/2016/how-to-make-sense-of-numbers-in-science-and-health-reports/
Sullivan, L. Confidence Intervals. Boston University School of Public Health.
https://sphweb.bumc.bu.edu/otlt/MPH-Modules/BS/BS704_Confidence_Intervals/BS704_Confidence_Intervals_print.html#:~
:text=Zero%20is%20the%20null%20value,significant%20difference%20between%20the%20groups.
Resources
Journalist's Toolbox. https://www.journaliststoolbox.org/
Denise Meeks, dmeeks@email.arizona.edu