Discussion: Displaying Data

Visual displays of data provide you and anyone else with a graphical display of what is often a complex array of quantitative data. A key strength of visualization is the ability to quickly enlighten you with key data. Rather than solely relying on your audience to interpret numerical values and statistics explained in a narrative, a visual display can easily illustrate descriptions, relationships, and trends. Although the focus is on simplicity, the researcher has an obligation to present these graphical displays in a clear and meaningful way.

For this Discussion, you will explore ways to appropriately display data.

To prepare for this Discussion:

Review the Learning Resources for this week related to frequency distributions and graphic displays of data.
Using the SPSS software, open the General Social Survey dataset found in this week’s Learning Resources.
Next, create a figure or table from a few selected variables within the dataset.
Finally, think about what is good about how the data are displayed in the figure or table you created and what is not so good.

Frankfort-Nachmias, C., Leon-Guerrero, A., & Davis, G. (2020). Social statistics for a diverse society (9th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Chapter 2, “The Organization and Graphic Presentation Data” (pp. 27-74)
Wagner, III, W. E. (2020). Using IBM® SPSS® statistics for research methods and social science statistics (7th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Chapter 5, “Charts and Graphs”
Chapter 11, “Editing Output”
https://waldenwritingcenter.blogspot.com/2013/02/general-guidance-on-data-displays.html

Be sure to support your Main Post and Response Post with reference to the week’s Learning Resources and other scholarly evidence in APA Style.

210 Week 2 Discussion How To Complete The Discussion Requirement

 

 

(From Dr. Bill: Check the Announcements for How To Complete The Week 2 Assignment)

 

An excellent response post will address the following requirements:

 

Review the Learning Resources for this week related to graphic displays of data.

 

Especially, view the Skill Builders: 1) Visual Displays for Continuous Variables and 2) Visual Displays for Categorical Variables. Learn the following:

 

Categorical variables = nominal and ordinal variables.

 

Continuous variables = interval and ratio variables

 

Note: some graphs, charts, etc. are appropriate for displaying categorical variables and some are appropriate for continuous variables. Do not mix them up!

 

Note: social scientists like to pretend that ordinal variables are continuous. Don’t do this.

 

Open SPSS and then open the General Social Survey (GSS) dataset. Look in Learning Resources for the GSS dataset.

 

Select 1 Scale (interval or ratio) variable and 1 Nominal variable from the data set. Remember to scroll to the Measure column in the dataset to identify your variables’ Level of Measurement.

 

Use the Graphs tool from the top menu in SPSS and create a display for each of the 2 variables you chose.

 

Your APA Manual states that your display should be simple, clear, easy to read, and easy to understand. In a couple of sentences, explain why your display has these attributes but make sure your explanation is simple, clear, easy to read, and easy to understand. Avoid rolling your eyes as you write your explanation.

 

Post your displays and explanation on the discussion board. Here’s how:

 

Right-click on your chart and choose Export.

 

In Document Type, choose None (Graphics only).

 

Near the bottom, in Graphics Type, choose PNG file.

 

In your post, on the third toolbar, click the second icon from the left (Insert/Edit Image).

Note: your chart will appear wherever your cursor is when you click the icon; be sure you’re down a few lines so you can type above and below the chart.

 

Find the file you exported and insert it; do this for each image.

 

Right click on the chart if you need to resize it.