Module 06 Activity

Scenario

Produce the summary table and the sentences that will go into a report.

What you build

A report-ready table and a paragraph of findings in which every claim is traceable to a number.

Steps

1. Compute the mean, median, range, quartiles and standard deviation for your main measure. Where the mean and median disagree, find the values responsible.
2. Group by your reporting category and include n(). Say what changes if a group has very few observations.
3. If you have two categories, cross-tabulate them and decide explicitly whether row or column percentages answer your question.
4. Turn the analysis table into a report table: round to the precision the measurement supports, sort by what the reader cares about, rename the columns into English, and keep the denominators.
5. Write each finding with the measure, the size, the comparison and the period named.
6. Read your own sentences back and strike any word the data does not support — especially causal ones.

Evidence to hand in

• The full set of descriptive statistics, with any mean/median gap explained.
• The grouped summary including n.
• The cross-tabulation and a note of which total you percentaged.
• The report table.
• The findings paragraph.
• The list of words you struck and why.

Review checklist

• The mean and median are both reported where they disagree.
• Every grouped row carries its count.
• The percentage base is stated in the column name or the caption.
• The report table keeps the denominators a reader needs to judge the rate.
• No finding claims a cause, and every one names its period.

Mark complete