Presenting data professionally

1. Presenting data
professionally
By Raymund B. Habaradas
Management and Organization Department
De La Salle University

2. Florence Nightingale
and the pie chart
Florence Nightingale is best remembered as the mother of modern
nursing. Few realize, however, that she also occupies a place in
history for her use of graphical methods to convey complex
statistical information.
After witnessing deplorable sanitary conditions in the Crimea, she
wrote Notes on Matters Affecting the Health, Efficiency and
Hospital Administration of the British Army (1858), which included
colourful polar-area diagrams where statistics being represented
were proportional to the area of a wedge in a circular diagram.
These charts visually illustrated that far more deaths were
attributable to non-battle causes such as unsanitary conditions than
to battle related causes.

3. Polar diagram, also known as the “Nightingale Rose Diagram”

4. Florence Nightingale
and the pie chart
With this information, Nightingale helped to promote the idea that
social phenomena could be objectively measured and subjected to
mathematical analysis. And through this statistical approach,
Nightingale convinced military authorities, Parliament and Queen
Victoria to carry out her proposed hospital reforms – which resulted
in a decline in the mortality rate for soldiers.
As Nightingale demonstrated, statistics provided an organized way
of learning and led to improvements in medical and surgical
practices. She also developed a Model Hospital Statistical Form
that could be used to collect and generate consistent data and
statistics. She became a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society in
1858, an honorary member of the American Statistical Association
in 1874, and has been acknowledged as a “prophetess” in the
development of applied statistics.

5. Effective data presentation
Converts raw data to a more digestible
form (e.g. summary tables, charts, and
graphs)
 Shows important information at a
glance
 Enhances understanding
 Delivers insight from data
 Persuades decision makers


6. Only half of
Lasallians say
they have a
healthy diet.
Table 1. I have a healthy daily diet
f
%
Strongly agree
2
3.70%
Agree
25
46.30%
Neither agree nor disagree
18
33.33%
Disagree
9
16.67%
Strongly disagree
0
0.00%
Total
To the statement “I have
a healthy diet”, only half
responded either with an
“agree” (46%) or strongly
agree (4%). About 33%
neither agreed nor
disagreed with the
statement, while the
other 17% disagreed.
This translated into a
mean score of 2.629.
Response
54
100%

7. Make it easy for your reader. Don’t
make him work too hard, trying to
understand your paper.
“If your paper is
easy to read and
understand, then
much time and care
must have been
invested in writing
it. That paper
deserves a high
grade.” – Sir Habs

8. Common mistakes in presenting
tables
Titles are not descriptive enough
 Units of measure are not stated clearly
 Column widths are inconsistent and
disproportionate
 Table sizes are inconsistent
 Tables are not self-explanatory
 No notes to explain abbreviations or
unusual terminology


9. What’s wrong with this table?
Online spending and purchases by Internet users in selected countries
Spending
Purchases
Belgium
790
6
Denmark
1159
11
France
509
8
Germany
521
10
Italy
454
7
Netherlands
681
7
Norway
1406
7
Spain
452
5
Sweden
1013
9
United Kingdom
1201
18

10. What are the improvements?
Table 1. Online spending and purchases by Internet users
in selected countries in Western Europe, September 2006 (average)
Spending
Country
(in Euro)
Purchases
Norway
1406
7
United Kingdom
1201
18
Denmark
1159
11
Sweden
1013
9
Belgium
790
6
Netherlands
681
7
Germany
521
10
France
509
8
Italy
454
7
Spain
452
5
Source: Synovate and SPA Market Research - UK for the European Interactive
Advertising Association (EIAA), January 2007

11. Inconsistent table sizes
Table 1. I have a healthy daily diet
Response
f
%
Strongly agree
2
3.70%
Agree
25
46.30%
Neither agree nor disagree
18
33.33%
Disagree
9
16.67%
Strongly disagree
0
0.00%
Total
54
100%
Avoid distorting tables by
indiscriminately pulling them
vertically or
horizontally, without regard
for their original proportions.
Be careful when you copypaste and resize tables.
Table 2. The canteens in school provide nutritious food
Response
f
%
Strongly agree
1
1.85%
Agree
21
38.89%
Neither agree nor disagree
23
42.59%
Disagree
8
14.81%
Strongly disagree
1
1.85%
Total
54
100%

12. Consistent table sizes
Table 1. I have a healthy daily diet
Response
f
%
Strongly agree
2
3.70%
Agree
25
46.30%
Neither agree nor disagree
18
33.33%
Disagree
9
16.67%
Strongly disagree
0
0.00%
Total
54
100%
Table 2. The canteens in school provide nutritious food
Response
f
%
Strongly agree
1
1.85%
Agree
21
38.89%
Neither agree nor disagree
23
42.59%
Disagree
8
14.81%
Strongly disagree
1
1.85%
Total
54
100%
Make sure that tables are
aligned across the
manuscript. Column widths
and heights, as well as the
typefaces and font sizes, of
similar tables must also be
consistent. This makes for a
professional-looking
document.
Don’t forget to use the
prescribed APA standards
for tables – no vertical lines,
and sparing use of
horizontal lines.

13. Common mistakes in presenting
diagrams or figures
Titles are not descriptive enough
 Diagrams don’t have axis labels
 Absence of key or legend
 Inappropriate diagrams or graphs


14. What is wrong with this
graph?

15. More appropriate graph

16. For descriptive statistics










Frequency tables
Cross-tabulations
Measures of central tendency and
dispersion
Bar charts (single or multiple)
Histograms
Line graphs (single or multiple)
Pareto diagrams
Pie charts
Box plots
Pictograms

17. Frequency table and bar chart

18. Pareto diagram

19. Box plot components

20. Geograph

21. For inferential statistics






Cross-tabulations
T-test results
ANOVA test results
Chi-square test results
Correlation test results
Regression test results

22. ANOVA and correlation
Table 9. ANOVA results – pre-final grade and final exams

23. Presenting data
professionally
By Raymund B. Habaradas
Management and Organization Department
De La Salle University