Extended Project:

Data, Data, Data

Visualisation and Presentation of data
 EPQ and Data
• The extended project covers many different formats of
projects, for example, a dissertation, performance or
field study
– This is reflected in the project reporting
• In many of these projects, data collection and
presentation is necessary or essential!
– Good presentation is not necessarily easy
– E.g. there are many examples of poor presentation in
newspapers and magazines
 Workshop Aims

• In this workshop, we will

• Set out some simple principles

• Assist with clear data and information presentation
• Show you how to improve people’s understanding of the data
• Show you how to effectively get across the overall message of
your dissertation
Florence Nightingale
and the Crimean War

Polar area charts

 What is Data? Presenting data
• A collection of facts, such as What presentation formats are
values or measurements there?

• The raw material of science • Summary statistics

• Tables
• Contains the information • Bar charts
waiting to be released • Line graphs

• This is done through data

presentation, interpretation
and statisitics
 Activity

Spend several minutes in groups coming up with answers to the

following:

•What different types of data are there?

•Can you give some examples of each?
•Where do they occur and what are the pros and cons of using them?
 Types of Data
• Qualitative
• Descriptive e.g. from a patient interview
• Numeric/quantitative
– Nominal/Categorical
• e.g. male or female
– Ordinal
• e.g. small, medium, large
– Integers, countable, rational
• e.g. 1,2,3…
– Real, quotients, irrational
• E.g. 1/2, 1/3, 1/4…
 Numbers in Text
• The general rules are as follows:
• Numbers up to and including nine in text should be written
in text
• i.e. “one”, “two” etc.

• Larger numbers should use digits, “11”, “37” etc

• Use effectively rounded numbers for up to 10,000; so use

“6,200” not “6,248”

• For numbers over 10,000 use a mixture of digits and words;

“13 thousand” not “13,169”; similarly use “1.1 millions” not
“1,148,982”

• Often believed most accurate number is better

• In fact, this precision implies spurious accuracy and is
often misleading
 Summary Statistics

• Used to summarise a set of observations

– in order to communicate the largest amount as simply as
possible
• Commonly used statistics are:
– measure of location, or central tendency
• such as the average (mean, median or mode)
– measure of spread like the standard deviation
– measure of the shape of the distribution like skewness
• This can be found by plotting a histogram
– if more than one variable is measured, a measure of
dependence such as a correlation
Location
Spread
Shape
 Things to consider
Consider the following before presenting data figures
Understand
• The type of data to be presented
• Main feature to be presented: what’s the message?
• How this information is used
• Who the intended audience is

Tables, charts and diagrams should assist with the

interpretation of the data
• Be representative of the data
• NOT, as frequently occurs, obscuring the meaning of
the data
 Figure Placement
• Make sure the size and fonts are large enough
to easily read
• Reference all the figures in the body of the text
– E.g. see Figure 1
• Give all Figures appropriate self contained
captions
– include the figure description and analysis in the body
of the text
• Consider where best to place the figure
– It should be soon after the reference in the text
Tables
 Tables
Presenting all of the actual data is often unnecessary and confusing!
Use tables if
• Trend is not important
• Number of values are small
• To complement other data presentation formats

Examples
 Tables
Style Rules Principles of Use
• Tables should not be filled with • Round data in summary tables
grid lines • Left/Right justify numbers in
columns
• Sorting • Consistent and neat formatting
- We read from left to right, or • Time from left to right or top to
top to bottom bottom
- Time: from past to present • Row total at right hand side.
- Increasing size: from small to • Column totals at bottom
large • Use space to separate data not
lines
• When comparing numbers it is • Consistent scales and units
easier to have the numbers in • Consistent number of decimal
columns than rows places or significant figures
• KEEP IT SIMPLE!
Charts and
Graphs
 Charts and Graphs
• As an alternative to table, these are usually better and
easier way to present
– Trends
– Patterns
– large amounts of data
– Idea of how things change
• Deciding between type of graphs, you need to consider
the main questions
– What is the aim of the diagram?
– Does it meet the aims?
• Sounds obvious but people don’t often do this!
• Choose the right representation to get your message
across
Bike Shop
Sales
 Activity
How would you present this data?

16-25 25-65
The Sun 348 278
The Times 107 167
The Telegraph 96 147
The Guardian 70 99

Newspaper readership figures stratified by age

 Pie Charts

• Represent the proportions of a total amount

• It may be easier to read if the segments are ordered by
size, from largest to smallest
• Don’t use too many (or too few) segments
– Group things together if necessary
 Pie Charts
Is this a good chart?
 Line Graphs
• Normally used to show a change with respect to time
• Use a sensible scale
• Gridlines can help the eye to navigate the plot
• If comparing 2 graphs use the same scale
• Use a sensible number of tick points and labelling
– Appropriately round the values
• ALWAYS label the axis
 Bar Charts
• Represented by area of bars
• Show the origin
• Do not over-lap areas
• When several variables are considered together,
what is the important message of the chart?
– This will help us think about how to group the
bars
 Bar Charts
Are these good bar charts?
 3D Graphs
• All three bars appear to be below This graph is much better
their scale lines
– this is the effect of the third
dimension

• Area of the front and side faces

of the blocks seem to be in the
proportion 1, 2 and 3, all have
the same top surface
– so the first block will appear
relatively bigger
– The data is represented
accurately only in the front
face of the blocks
– hence that is what should be
shown
 Practise makes perfect
• In groups, look at the hand-out and discuss the
strength and weaknesses of each representation
– decide which of the figures you think is the best and
why
 Further Reading
• Information is Beautiful by David McCandless
• Exploratory Data Analysis by John W. Tukey (1977)
• TED talk Hans Rosling
http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_shows_the_best_
stats_you_ve_ever_seen.html
Hand-out figures