Surfstat.australia: an online text in introductory Statistics

SUMMARISING AND PRESENTING DATA

EXPLORING DATA IN TABLES - RULES FOR PRESENTATION OF TABLES

  1. The patterns and exceptions should be obvious at a glance
  2. Round the numbers to 2 or even just 1 effective digit
  3. Numbers are easier to compare in columns than in rows
  4. Order rows and columns by size with big numbers first
  5. Don't try to present everything on one table. It is better to use several smaller tables.

Example - UK Merchant Vessels

Table 1
United Kingdom Merchant Vessels in Service
(500 gross tons and over)

Table 2
An "improved" version of Table 1

Example - GB Unemployment

Table 6
Unemployment in Great Britain - Original Version

Table 7
Unemployment in GB - Rounded

Table 8
With Averages

Table 9
Rows and Columns Interchanged

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