Describing, Clarifying and Presenting Data

3. Data Displays

In Module 1 you will recall it was noted that numbers need a context to become data.

Examine the numbers below:

52, 64, 16, 48, 35, 52, 85, 96, 90, 87, 77, 78, 37, 68, 62, 60, 51, 55, 57, 64, 54, 51, 62, 43, 68, 71, 76, 68, 65, 83, 47, 44

These numbers could be anything. They could be doodles, or they could be important. However, if you were told that these are marks that university students obtained in a subject, then they begin to make more sense. This is the context from which these numbers emerged to become data and give meaning to the data.

If you want the data to be easy to read, and if you want people to use your data, then you also need to display the data in a way that aids understanding and interpretation. Tables and graphic displays are two useful types of data display that give meaning to your data.

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