Investigative research tips for college journalists
Bob Bergland, Missouri Western State University,
Because of small staffs and especially because students have to balance their newspaper work with their coursework and outside jobs, the bulk of collegiate journalism stories are reactionary—previews or followups of meetings, games, events, presentations, etc. There often isn’t the time or resources to do in-depth work--the journalism that really can make a difference--and sometimes it’s difficult to come up with ideas and sources for these stories. Hopefully this handout will help.
Comparison stories—These stories gauge similarities/differences with other institutions.
Examples: Student fees, tuition, graduation rates, admin/fac. salaries, ACT/SAT, state funding, endowments, athletic facilities, athletic dept. budgets, greek #s, Fed. Financial aid, enrollment
Be sure to pick peer institutions—apples to apples comparisons!
Also, compare schools within your university (faculty salaries, GPAs, funding levels, # of PhDs, # part-time)
Sources: State Dept. of Higher Ed, Provost/Academic VP, Admissions, Fac. Senate, State Blue Books, AAUP
Breakdown stories—These stories detail the make-up of your campus.
M-F ratio, Race (student body and faculty), religion, alcohol/drug use, hours worked, financial aid
Sources: NSSE data, Institutional surveys (class, Student Gov, admin), Admissions
Inspections—Be a watchdog. Check to see if your school has broken any rules/codes.
County health codes (cafeteria, science labs, elevators, pools), EPA (waste/chemicals), OSHA, EEO, fire codes/extinguishers, ADA, Accreditation reports, Strategic Plans, emergency phones, audit reports
Academics: GPAs/grade inflation, part-time vs full-time faculty numbers, retention rates, % students passing licensure exams, getting into grad/med school, magazine rankings, exit exam/GRE/LSAT/MCAT
Sports: Gender equity (scholarships, # of coaches, pay of coaches, number of athletes and sports), revenue vs expenses, graduation rates, failed drug/steroid tests, NCAA infractions, GPAs, fundraising, # of sports comparison, attendance, overall budget. Sources: school, conference, NCAA, IRS form 990s (booster clubs)
Crime/Courts: Clery report (Oct. reporting), daily log, incident reports/arrest records, disciplinary hearings (violence/sex), separation agreements, suits involving the university, sex offenders registry, # parking tickets, Check to see if your state has a crime database: Ex: casenet/ Look up athletes, admin,etc.
Contracts/bids: Separation agreements (open records in some state), presidential perks, preferred vendors, investment accounts, bidding, deeds, patent ownership, building project change orders, college architect/lawyer
Student Government—funding allocations, composition (% greek, minority), budget, constitution, elections
Assorted: Track legislative bills affecting your university, Google admin job candidates (and call student newspaper there), Lexis-Nexis search, search state statutes, read local police blotters, Chronicle of Higher Ed
Open records: cell phone records, charge cards, expense accounts, disaster plans
Meetings: always go to Student Gov. meetings, Board of Governors/Trustees
Make friends: with secretaries, people with ax to grind, or who want to promote their program/agenda,
Data analyst person at your university, student governor
Private schools: IRS form 990 (fundraising numbers, executive pay), and see above. Always ask for other documents; report any denial to release documents in your story. Consider writing editorials if they aren’t releasing documents (especially such documents as accreditation reports) which students really have a right to see.
Top paper and online research sources for investigative journalism
Peterson’s Guide: This guide, geared toward high school seniors, contains a lot of information on demographics, financial aid, tuition, etc. for each school. There is some great beginning data for comparison or breakdown stories.
Blue book: Most Secretary of State offices keep records of how much all state employees are paid in a Blue Book, which is often printed and sometimes available online. Ex:
NSSE: National Survey of Student Engagement. This survey contains a wealth of data about students. Check to see if your school participates in this survey—if so, get a copy. It’s a gold mine for stories and charts/graphs. The national site is
Revised statutes: Check out these laws for your state regarding your Sunshine Laws and if you are a state university, laws which might specify your institution. A state-by-state list can be found at
Most states also offer bill tracking capabilities—state schools should see if there are bills related to their institution going through the legislature.
Departments of Higher Education: Find your state department or coordinating board of higher education. Call and ask for the data analysis person there to see what data they have regarding your and other schools. This is a wonderful resource for comparison stories. Some states keep some private school data, too. Find your DHE at
Chronicle of Higher Education: See if you can get password/login access through your library to this newspaper site which covers issues important to higher ed
FOI/Sunshine Laws: Check out your state statutes for information about your state’s open records and meetings laws. For federal documents (such as the Environmental Protection Agency, Occupational Safety and Heath Agency, etc), start with
NCAA: Your school must submit reams of data to the NCAA about such items as budgets, numbers of athletes, pay of coaches, etc, etc. Get your hands on these reports. The NCAA website also has some documents and a database of schools with major infractions.
IRS Form 990: All non-profit organizations must submit a yearly report to the IRS. Form 990 contains information about fundraising and pay of its top five employees making over $50,000. For the private schools, this can be a vital source to find out valuable information that the school doesn’t want to release. For public schools, remember that there are often private non-profit entities such as foundations, alumni associations and athletic booster clubs that must file these documents. All of these groups must provide you with a copy of their Form 990 immediately upon request. You may also have some success checking out Guidestar.org. Also check out
Lexis-Nexis: This database provides access to articles and other documents, including a legal section—type in your university’s name or name of big dogs on campus and see what comes up. You can access the legal section through your library or library web site, or
Investigative Reporters and Editors: Great site, great resources.