Presenting results and presenting data graphically
Sources on presenting research results

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Start here: Guidelines on reporting research - how to make sure you do a good job of reporting research results.

Mostly there appear to be guidelines in the medical, public health areas.

CONSORT   http://www.consort-statement.org/   which stands for Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials, encompasses various initiatives developed by the CONSORT Group to alleviate the problems arising from inadequate reporting of randomized controlled trials (RCTs). The main product of CONSORT is the CONSORT Statement, which is an evidence-based, minimum set of recommendations for reporting RCTs.

EQUATOR Network website   http://www.equator-network.org/   the resource centre for good reporting of health research studies.  The EQUATOR Network is an international initiative that seeks to enhance reliability and value of medical research literature by promoting transparent and accurate reporting of research studies.

PRISMA   http://www.prisma-statement.org/   stands for Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. It is an evidence-based minimum set of items for reporting in systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

STROBE - Strengthening the Reporting of Observational studies in Epidemiology.  http://www.strobe-statement.org/   STROBE stands for an international, collaborative initiative of epidemiologists, methodologists, statisticians, researchers and journal editors involved in the conduct and dissemination of observational studies

TREND   http://www.cdc.gov/trendstatement/   the mission of the Transparent Reporting of Evaluations with Nonrandomized Designs (TREND) group is to improve the reporting standards of nonrandomized evaluations of behavioral and public health interventions.

These guidelines about presenting results, and other guidelines about other aspects of publishing, are listed here   http://www.nlm.nih.gov/services/research_report_guide.html  


But see this 2011 study about medical/public health research:
Bennett C, Khangura S, Brehaut JC, Graham ID, Moher D, et al. (2011) Reporting Guidelines for Survey Research: An Analysis of Published Guidance and Reporting Practices. PLoS Med 8(8): e1001069. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001069   http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1001069  
    This paper says that there seem to be problems about reporting the quality of survey research. The authors write "Our own review of 117 published survey studies revealed that many items were poorly reported: few studies provided the survey or core questions (35%), reported the validity or reliability of the instrument (19%), defined the response rate (25%), discussed the representativeness of the sample (11%), or identified how missing data were handled (11%)."

This paper says many studies don't report the interventions in much detail.
Susan Michie1, Dean Fixsen, Jeremy M Grimshaw and Martin P Eccles. Specifying and reporting complex behaviour change interventions: the need for a scientific method. Implementation Science 2009, 4:40.   http://www.implementationscience.com/content/4/1/40/  
    "Few published intervention evaluations refer to formal documentation describing the content and delivery of an intervention and are seldom reported by researchers or practitioners in enough detail to replicate them [5,6]. Reviews of nearly 1,000 behaviour change outcome studies [7-10] found that interventions were described in detail in only 5% to 30% of the experimental studies."


Reviewing or critically reading research studies

Evaluating research articles from start to finish. Ellen Girden, Robert Kabacoff   http://books.google.com/books?id=-3ZsyqzKLQwC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false  





Tips on how to present results

If you can't find it below, look at Betty Jungs links to graphics page  http://www.bettycjung.net/Graphing.htm    which has a great many links about presenting data.


Making data meaningful   http://www.unece.org/stats/documents/writing/   from the UN Economic Commission of Europe. How to write, present and communicate about data.


Communicating Statistics   https://gss.civilservice.gov.uk/statistics/presentation-and-dissemination/   "This page brings together resources about communicating and disseminating official statistics, including guidance documents and case studies"


Improving data visualisation for the public sector   http://www.improving-visualisation.org/      "This site supports public sector researchers improve the way that they visualise data, by providing good practice examples and case studies, practical and step-by-step guides on how to visualise data, and links to more detailed resources."


BTS’s Guide to Good Statistical Practice    http://www.bts.gov/publications/guide_to_good_statistical_practice_in_the_transportation_field/index.html    This is a guide on how to present data analysis and how to discuss data quality and errors. 

 
Gallery of Data Visualization: The Best and Worst of Statistical Graphics   http://euclid.psych.yorku.ca/datavis.ca/    

 
National Center for Educational Statistics, Create a Graph   http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/   a site for students, to show how to use various graph formats.  See these two lessons
   http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/help/user_guide/graph/bar.asp   about bar charts,
   http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/help/user_guide/graph/line.asp   about line graphs
  
 
Guidelines for Effective Data Presentations   http://www.measuredhs.com/publications/publication-od41-other-documents.cfm  


Using Graphics to Report Evaluation Results   http://learningstore.uwex.edu/Using-Graphics-to-Report-Evaluation-Results-P1022C236.aspx   from University of Wisconsin Extension.


Exploring Data: graphs and numerical summaries   http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=1710   a class by The Open University's Learning Space.


CDC's Brief 12   http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/evaluation/index.htm#tabs-811330-3   Using Graphs and Charts to Illustrate Quantitative Data


Visual Literacy Org   http://www.visual-literacy.org/   has various demonstrations, documents, etc including this Periodic Table of Visualization Methods  
http://www.visual-literacy.org/periodic_table/periodic_table.html   


AEA has a blog stream about data visualization   http://aea365.org/blog/?cat=595   many contributions


Statistical Graphics Section   http://stat-computing.org/   section of American Statistical Association.  Has section newsletter and list of links.


Statistics: Power from data.  http://www.statcan.gc.ca/edu/power-pouvoir/toc-tdm/5214718-eng.htm   has a section describing presenting data   http://www.statcan.gc.ca/edu/power-pouvoir/ch9/5214821-eng.htm   showing examples of different types of graphs.


Presenting Numerical Data   http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/ld/resources/numerical-data/numerical-data   This guide offers practical advice on how to incorporate numerical information into essays, reports, dissertations, posters and presentations. The guide outlines the role of text, tables, graphs and charts as formats for presenting numerical data.


Rougier NP, Droettboom M, Bourne PE (2014) Ten Simple Rules for Better Figures. PLoS Comput Biol 10(9): e1003833. doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003833  
http://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003833  



Presenting numerical data   http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/ld/resources/numerical-data/numerical-data  


This page lists a couple of books, as well as web sites, because these books are so highly recommended.
books by Edward Tufte, especially
  Envisioning information, graphics press, 1990
  the visual display of quantitative information, graphics press, 1987
books by William Cleveland, especially
  visualizing data , hobart press, 1993
  the elements of graphing data, CRC press, 1994


Data visualization  http://www.healthworkforceta.org/webinars/data-visualization-strategies-tips-and-tools/   tips and tools, Webinar from Feb 2016.


Data Visualization for Human Perception   https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/book/the-encyclopedia-of-human-computer-interaction-2nd-ed/data-visualization-for-human-perception   by David Few. About effective presentation of data, and why these things are effective.


Graphing sociology   http://thesocietypages.org/graphicsociology/   the author of this page, Laura Noren, presents graphs, charts or tables and analyzes why they work or don't work.


Census Bureau has examples of data visualizations, and infographics   http://www.census.gov/data/visualizations.html  

  
Sites about general presentation tips:

KU Medical Center page on effective presentations
http://www.kumc.edu/SAH/OTEd/jradel/effective.html
has on line basic tutorial for preparing graphics, its an overview.  


PowerPoint Presentation Advice   http://www.cob.sjsu.edu/splane_m/PresentationTips.htm   This is not an easy to read page, but it does have very useful and important tips.


A Conference of Mind and Mouth: The Ultimate Public Speaking Resource Guide  http://www.accuconference.com/resources/public-speaking.aspx    links to speaking and presentation tips


Public Speaking   http://www.screentekinc.com/Computer-Resources-Public-Speaking.html   kind of general tips on speaking, and links to other sites.


Hans Rosling shows the best stats you've ever seen   http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_shows_the_best_stats_you_ve_ever_seen.html   a Ted talk. A nice demonstration of how to present data.
  Here is a summary of his talk   http://sixminutes.dlugan.com/six-simple-techniques-for-presenting-data-hans-rosling-ted-2006/  


Andrew Gelman, at Columbia  http://www.stat.columbia.edu/~gelman/   has this presentation on presenting graphics  
http://www.businessinsider.com/stats-legend-these-are-the-best-ways-to-visualize-data-and-heres-what-youre-doing-wrong-2012-12  
 



Prepare charts on line


Tableau public   https://public.tableau.com/s/   says you can make charts for free
   Tableau is listed here
    http://www.waterplan.water.ca.gov/swan/index.cfm 
     and this site used it to make a map   http://news.uscourts.gov/what-happens-when-cities-go-bankrupt  


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HOW TO PREPARE REPORTS


How to Avoid Plagiarism   http://www.csub.edu/ssric-trd/howto/plagiarism.htm   by Earl Babbie. Make sure you follow this advice!


Plain Language.gov   http://www.plainlanguage.gov/index.cfm   from the US Govt, especially see the guidelines  
http://www.plainlanguage.gov/howto/guidelines/bigdoc/TOC.cfm   with sections like short sections, useful headings, etc.


Program managers guide to evaluation.   http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/resource/the-program-managers-guide-to-evaluation-second-edition   Second Edition, 2010  has a chapter on how to report what you have learned. Starting on page 98.  (The printed page number is 87, but you have to go to page 98)

 
How to Write a Scholarly Research Report    http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=6&n=13     by Rudner, Lawrence M. & William D. Schafer (1999). in Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 6(13).  Brief introduction and descriptions of sections in a report. 


Writing research papers    http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~bioslabs/tools/report/reportform.html    general guide for biostat reports, but still useful.


Writing a report   http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/670/01/   overall general guide


Links to sites with info about apa style   http://www.psywww.com/resource/apacrib.htm






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last updated 2/14/2016
last verified 2/14/2016

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