Writing about Data

UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1: Numbers Do Not Speak for Themselves

Case Study: The Challenger space shuttle

• For Discussion: The Challenger memo

Data reporting involves argument

Data-based arguments depend on purpose, audience, and credibility

Numbers can be manipulated — just like words

Data can be qualitative as well as quantitative

Callout: Is the word data singular or plural?

Is this book for me?

Summary

• Exercise 1.1: Reframing statistics

Chapter 2: Telling a Story with Quantitative Data

Data visualizations and words work together to tell a story

• Exercise 2.1: Telling stories about data

Not all stories are equally credible and ethical

• Avoid breaking common conventions for reporting data
• Do not make small differences seem large
• For Discussion: Adjusted y-axis
• Include important context relevant to understanding the data
• Carefully word claims to avoid exaggeration 

Summary

• Exercise 2.2: Rating credibility

UNIT 2: WORKING WITH DATA STORIES

Chapter 3: Visualizing Your Data Story: Part I

The most common visualizations (and the stories they support)

• Callout: Chart, graph, figure? What’s the difference?

Bar graphs

• Line graphs
• Pie graphs
• Tables

The case against pie graphs: Why they should be used sparingly

• For Discussion: Pie graphs

Use captions and labels to complete and reinforce your story

• A checklist for figure and table captions
• Exercise 3.1: Analyzing captions
• Exercise 3.2: Examining visualizations in research articles

Generative AI and data visualization

Summary

• Exercise 3.3: Creating visualizations

Chapter 4: Reinforcing Your Visualization’s Story 

Sort to emphasize your story

Group data to foreground one story over another

Reduce non-data ink

Minimize eye movement

Use contrast to emphasize your story

Be consistent and credible in how you display numbers

Summary

• Exercise 4.1: Examining visualizations in research articles
• Exercise 4.2: Revising your data visualizations
• Exercise 4.3: Grouping and arranging data in data visualizations

Chapter 5: Using Basic Math to Shape Your Story

Summarize data to concisely communicate a story

• Exercise 5.1: Summarizing and averaging data

Use weighted data to shape your story

• Weighted data are useful in evaluations
• Weighted data are useful for Likert-scale data

Combine data with other sources to give context

• Exercise 5.2: Combining different types of data
• Case Study: Satisfaction with democracy in the United States, 1997 versus 2022
• For Discussion: Raw numbers versus percentages
• For Discussion: Shaping the story with calculations

Summary

• Exercise 5.3: Turning complex data into a clear story

Chapter 6: Working with Qualitative Data

• Callout: Qualitative and quantitative are not mutually exclusive

Use qualitative data to describe

• For Discussion: Quotations as “data”

Use qualitative data to categorize

Use qualitative data to evaluate

• For Discussion: Qualitative data across disciplines

Report qualitative data ethically

• Exercise 6.1: Ethical interpretation of quotes

Summary

• Exercise 6.2: Analyze a report with qualitative data

UNIT 3: WRITING THE FORMAL DATA REPORT

Chapter 7: Writing a Formal Data Report (IMRD)

IMRD stands for Introduction, Method, Results, and Discussion

IMRD reports have an abstract or executive summary

IMRD sections aid readers by being highly predictable

• Exercise 7.1: Identifying IMRD information

IMRD reports support non-linear reading

• Exercise 7.2: How do you read an IMRD report?

IMRD organization can vary

• Exercise 7.3: Analyze IMRD sections in a sample report

Summary

• Exercise 7.4: Research Posters
• Exercise 7.5: Analysis of good and bad reports

Chapter 8: Writing the Results Section

Write your data story in paragraphs

• For Discussion: How does the paragraph change your understanding?
• Callout: For the mathematically minded...
• Exercise 8.1: Interpreting data

Weave multiple data stories together

Use subheadings to organize into skimmable chunks

A sample Results section: improving instructor ethos through document design

Summary

• Exercise 8.2: Annotating results

Chapter 9: Writing about Methods

Methods readers lie at two extremes of care in reading

Methods are typically organized with subheadings

Methods sections justify choices

• For Discussion: Justifying methodological choices

Methods sections favor past tense and passive voice

• Exercise 9.1: Choosing active or passive voice

Methods themselves are sometimes a major research contribution

Summary

• Exercise 9.2: Comparing methods sections

Chapter 10:  Introducing Research Studies

Introductions convey the context and value of your work

Researchers follow a “formula” for introducing research

• Exercise 10.1: Annotating introductions

Introductions can be short and sweet

• For Discussion: Short and sweet introductions

Introductions can be long and encompass multiple sections

Summary

• Exercise 10.2: Annotating Introductions

Chapter 11: Discussions, Conclusions, and Recommendations

IMRD reports conclude by moving from specific to general

• Exercise 11.1: Annotating Discussion sections

What goes in the Results versus the Discussion sections?

• Callout: The combined Results and Discussion
• Exercise 11.2: Choosing Results or Discussion

What goes in the Discussion versus the Conclusion?

A Recommendations section often concludes business and professional reports

Summary

• Exercise 11.3: Annotating concluding sections

Chapter 12: Front Matter: Titles, Abstracts, and Executive Summaries

Titles should clearly and precisely state the main focus

Abstracts and executive summaries are reports in miniature

• Callout: A note of caution

The traditional academic abstract is a single paragraph

The structured academic abstract has labeled sections

An IMRD executive summary is typically one page

The recommendations-first executive summary

Avoid common problems with executive summaries

Summary

• Exercise 12.1: Rating abstracts

APPENDICES

Appendix A: Two Sample IMRD Reports

Version 1: Effect of Verbal Commands in Instructions for Assembly of a Lego Vehicle

Version 2: Effect of Verbal Commands in Instructions for Assembly of a Lego Vehicle

Appendix B: Design or Proof-of-Concept IMRD Reports