Presentation of Data (Textual Method) : Part - 1

 

Hello friends, This is my fourth article on my blog. In this article, we will start our discussions on series of articles named Presentation of Data and this is Part - 1 of articles on Presentation of Data. Now, it's time to dive into the article 😊

Till now, we have discussed about Measurement Scales, Data, Variable and their classifications. If you have not read those articles and feel uncomfortable with this article after reading it, I suggest you to read those articles first and then proceed further in this article because all articles are related to one another. It may be difficult for you to understand the flow of articles.

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Now Recall from the first article, where I had given the definition of Statistics. Four terms had been used in the definition - Collection, Presentation, Analysis and Interpretation of data.

There will be a seperate series of articles on Collection of data, that is, How relevant data are collected regarding any real problem ? This concept is dealt in an Applied branch of Statistics known as "Sampling Theory". At that level as a beginner, It is not for you. That's why I am leaving it here and simply Assume that you have collected some data on a single variable or multiple variables.

Now, moving towards the second term of the definition of Statistics, i.e., Presentation of data and that is the matter of discussion here in this article.

Aim of Article

• Need of Presentation of Data

• Methods to Present Data

• Textual Method

• Considerable Points in Textual Method

• Advantages of Textual Method

• Disadvantages of Textual Method

Need of Presentation of Data

In simple words, The Presentation of Data is important so that -

• Researchers may easily use the data for further analysis work and draw important conclusions.

• Readers or Researchers may easily understand important information contained in data.

• Readers or Researchers may easily visualize important information contained in data.

Methods to Present Data

The followings are the various methods that are extensively used to present any data set in Statistics -

• Textual Method

• Tabular Method

• Diagrammatic Method

• Graphical Method

Textual Method

It is the first and very basic method of Presentation of Data. In this method, The available data is presented in the form of "Words", "Sentences" and "Paragraphs".

For Example : Assume that you have collected some data on a single variable (Age) only, that means, we have a "Univariate Data" on students of English diploma class B.H.U. and session 2015-16 

Univariate Data has been assumed first because it is the simplest data. After better understanding of textual method of presentation of data, we'll also consider the case of representing Bivariate and Multivariate data with Textual method.

as follows -

20, 21, 20, 23, 24, 21, 19, 22, 23, 20

According to the textual method of presentation of data, we may write the above mentioned information in the following paragraph as -

There are 10 students enrolled in English diploma course at B.HU. in session 2015-16. The age of these 10 students lies between 18 to 25 years. There are three students of age 20, two students of age 21 and 23, only one student of age 19, 22 and 24.

The above paragraph has been written in my own words. You may also write it in your own words. There are no hard and fast rule in using textual method of presentation of data but I suggest you to write an informative paragraph that can easily explain each and every aspect of collected information (data) corresponding to the problem under consideration.

 

 

Considerable Points in Textual Method

Whenever you are using Textual Method of presentation of data, You must keep the following points in your mind -

• You must know your target audience who are going to read it.

• You must use easy and relevant terms in paragraph. Try to avoid the use of heavy words, if possible.

• You must maintain accuracy of data and review all data after writing paragraph.

• You must highlight the main points of data findings.

• You must not repeat the same point again and again. 

• You must try to shorten longer phrases wherever possible and mix two phrases when they can be combined as one.

• You must avoid unnecessary details (those information that are not important for the problem under consideration), if available in collected data.

Advantages of Textual Method

Followings are some important advantages of Textual Method of Presentation of Data -

• This method presents data in contextual manner with short explanation.

• This method provides the presenter an opportunity to explain, if necessary, data properly.

• This method is very effective for small data.

• This method is specifically used in presenting qualitative data that can not be presented by other available methods of presentation of data. For Example : Important opinions of a Person regarding the problem under consideration is presented by this method.

Disadvantages of Textual Method

Followings are some important disadvantages of Textual Method of Presentation of Data -

• This method of presentation is ineffective when we have a large data that have too much details.

• In this method, One has to read the whole text to understand the complete scenario under consideration.

• This method of presentation seems less attractive than any other available methods.

Work for you : Present the above mentioned Univariate Data using Textual method in your own words in comment box.

So, I want to stop here in this article. In next article we'll discuss Tabular method (Preliminaries) of presentation of Data. Till then, Good Bye !

Happy Learning ! 😊

If you find any mistake or have any suggestions,  just let me know using Suggestion Form given below (for mobile users) or in sidebar (for laptop users). Thank you in Advance ! 😊

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