Here's a checklist of dos and don'ts that other editors - whether they are computer-savvy or not - may find helpful at each stage of a CAR story:

Concept

Brainstorm, discuss and critique stories thoroughly before you begin. CAR is time-consuming and expensive. Understand what you, your reporters and your newspaper or station is getting into. Listen to all ideas. Beware of any proposal that begins with "Let's take a look at" Such stories are doomed unless they're better defined. Don't "data dive." Just because there are million of records in those databases, it's easy to assume there has to be a story there some place. Questions to ask: What do you think a computer analysis would show?

What are you expectations based on? Who have you talked to? What other evidence do you have? What will CAR add to this story that we couldn't get in other ways?

Reporting

Keep talking - perhaps daily, at least weekly, depending on the story's time frame. An occasional memo or draft that includes a working lede and nut graf can help keep the editor and reporter on the same track. It can also serve as an early warning system for a reporter gathering lots of information but losing sight of the story. Get reporters off the computer and out of the newsroom. Don't wait until the entire analysis is done to bounce findings off of sources, locate experts or talk with the real people behind the data you are examining. Those forays into the field can reinforce findings or poke holes in faulty conclusions.

Allow enough time. CAR is not a shortcut. It is time consuming, especially for beginners. Trying to do CAR on deadline can convince novices their first CAR project should be their last. Team when possible, especially on stories where timing is an issue. Dividing the work between two or more reporters can get the story into print or on the air sooner. Don't forget to involve copy editors, artists and photographers early. You can eliminate the "deadly data" syndrome from many CAR stories by using charts, summary boxes, etc.

Writing

Leave enough time for the writing and editing. When it's time to write, work with the reporter to take a final inventory of the information gathered. Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the material - what you will use and what you don't. Be on the lookout for CAR fatigue. Those nuggets of information that once seemed so revealing start losing their luster as the project goes on. Help reporters remember what will be of interest to someone getting this information for the first time. Tell the story with people and events, not with data. If the reporter can't find examples of the trends revealed by the analysis, question the findings. Discuss presentation, but resist formulas. At this point, it is no longer a CAR story. It's simply a story to be told in as compelling a way as possible. Don't burden readers or viewers with process. In most cases, they won't care how many thousands of electronic records we filtered and sorted. Our motto might be: We do CAR so you don't have to.

Editing

If you have CAR skills, help be a backstop to the reporter's work. Most reporters welcome another set of eyes and hands on the data.

An experienced CAR reporter I recently hired told me: "It drove me nuts that editors at my previous paper had zero CAR knowledge. As a result, every time I had a CAR story in the paper, I was hanging out there."

See the story through a reader's eyes. Is it interesting? Does it hold together? Are its points clear and its focus sharp? Do you understand the data the reporter has used and are you comfortable with the conclusion the reporter has reached? Question the reliability of the data the same way you would the veracity of any other key source that was to be the basis for a story. Why did you choose these records? Who has checked each calculation for errors? What data integrity checks were done? How current is the data? Have the data been used elsewhere in similar stories? Were there any problems or pitfalls that arose in those cases? If you don't have CAR skills, ask the reporter to show you how he or she came up with key findings. If the reporter can't recreate those numbers with you sitting next to him or her at the computer, be concerned. Attack the numbers. Get as many of them out of the story as possible. Can some of them be delivered better in a graphic? Can percentages be recast in easier-to-read terms, such as "four out of five doctors?"

After publishing

Do the post-mortem. Sit down with the reporter and walk through the process. What would you each do differently next time? Where were all the flaws in the data? Who should we have talked to earlier? What did we wish we'd have gotten that we were unable to get this time around? Is there a plan for following the story? Can you come back in a year or two and see what has changed? Is the methodology documented well enough that another reporter could redo the analysis later and be able to compare the findings? Are there other uses for the data? Once the CAR story is done, work with the reporter or your CAR coordinator to make the data available to the rest of the newsroom. It's great to do a project on repeat drunk drivers. But now that you've got driving records in digital form, those could be an ongoing resource for other reporters and editors. Jeffrey Kummer can be reached by e-mail at jkummer@pioneerpress.com