E-module 3 - Displaying data

Question 1

What 3 elements are always required on tables or figures?

Answer 1

Title
Labelled axes (with units)
Legend

Question 2

What can 2 additional components can tables/figures also sometimes have?

Answer 2

Annotations to describe certain elements

Asterisks to denote significance

Question 3

What are ‘legends’ in the context of data presentation?

Answer 3

These are short paragraphs under or above the figure/table that briefly describes and explains the contents of the figure/table

Question 4

What 4 components are found in a good legend?

Answer 4

Title - descriptive (how the experiment was conducted) or declarative (what the figure shows)
Methods - brief sentence about methods used to generate results shown
Results - very brief explanation of findings. p-values and sample size should be included.
Definitions - explanations of all the symbols, scale bars, error bars or abbreviations used in the figure
(in this order roughly)

Question 5

What is the most important thing to keep in mind when thinking about displaying the data?

Answer 5

Your original hypothesis

- helps you to select the form of data representation that best shows what your hypothesis is aiming to show

Question 6

What are the 6 types of ways to display data?

Answer 6

Pie chart
Bar chart
Histogram
Dot-plot
Box-and-whisker plot
Scatter plot

Question 7

What are the 5 numbers indicated by significant points on a box-and-whisker plot?

Answer 7

Lower extreme
Lower quartile
Median
Upper quartile
Upper extreme
- box also therefore shows the interquartile range

Question 8

What are the key elements of a table?

Answer 8

Column and row titles
Body
Legend

Question 9

What can box-and-whiskers plots be used for?

Answer 9

Can be used for showing whether data is normal or not

Can also be used to show statistically significant difference (less sure on how though)

Question 10

What are the data types on the x and y axis of pie charts?

Answer 10

x - categorical (e.g. gender)

y - counted quantitative (e.g. number of …)

Question 11

What are the advantages of using pie charts to display data?

Answer 11

Advantages

• good to show relative size of the parts of a whole
• good for information visualisation (can be considered aesthetically pleasing)

Question 12

What are the disadvantages of using pie charts to display data and what might you use instead?

Answer 12

Disadvantages

• not considered scientifically accurate
• cannot show data dispersion or measure of central tendency/centrality

Use Bar charts instead as they can show both the above

Question 13

What are the data types on the x and y axis of bar charts?

Answer 13

x - categorical or quantitative counted (e.g. gender/number)

y - quantitative data (e.g. number)

Question 14

What are the advantages of a Bar chart?

Answer 14

Advantages
- considered accurate
- easy to interpret
Thus highly recommended

No real disadvantages other than limited by what it can show/what data types can be shown with it

Question 15

What are the data types on the x and y axis of a histogram?

Answer 15

x - continuous quantitative (e.g. heart rate)

y - quantitative counted (e.g. frequency)

Question 16

What are the differences between a histogram and a bar chart and what is the most common type of histogram?

Answer 16

Bar chart - can only have continuous numerical data on ONE of its axes
Histogram - can have continuous numerical data on BOTH of its axes

Most common type of histogram is a FREQUENCY HISTOGRAM - x axis is continuous and y axis is counted quantitative

Question 17

What are the data types on the x and y axis of a dot plot?

Answer 17

x - categorical (e.g. gender)

y - continuous quantitative (e.g. heart rate)

Question 18

What type of graph are dot plots most similar to and what has happened in the graph?

Answer 18

Most similar to bar graphs

- bars have been replaced by dots which show a better measure of data dispersion

Question 19

What is the advantage/disadvantage to using a dot plot over its counterpart?

Answer 19

Advantage
- provides a better visual representation of data dispersion than bar charts

Disadvantage
- more suitable to smaller data sets, can get cluttered

Question 20

What are the data types on the x and y axis of a box-and-whisker plot?

Answer 20

x - categorical (e.g. gender)

y - continuous quantitative (e.g. heart rate)

Question 21

What are the data types on the x and y axis of a scatter plot?

Answer 21

x - continuous quantitative (e.g. heart rate)

y - continuous quantitative (e.g. height)

Question 22

What is the main advantage of using box-and-whisker plots for data display and how can data be compared using them?

Answer 22

Used to summarise a single data-set using 5 numbers

• can plot multiple alongside each other for comparative analysis
• mainly used for non-parametric numerical data sets rather than parametric

Question 23

What is the difference about scatter plots in their usage compared to other types of graph and what can be added to one in order to add information for interpretation?

Answer 23

Used to show SIMILARITY

- line of correlation can be added, can act as its own type of statistical analysis