Week+5+Data+Presentation+Critique

 **Data Presentation-Critique -**  **Due: In class, July 30, 2011**  For some empirical data reported in an article, provide an alternative (table or chart), and critique the effectiveness of the original reporting of the data.

 The source article for this assignment must be available online or a copy given to me the day of class.

 __Option 1: You have a quantitative research article on your topic__  Give the complete citation for the article (including complete page range). Indicate which page has the data to which you refer.
 *  This original data can be in the text (“43% of students said…”), in a table, or in a chart.
 *  Present in one paragraph length **discussion (this is not written but verbally shared)** why you think the author presented the data that way, and why you think it could be improved.
 *  Next present in one paragraph length **discussion** how you have changed the presentation, and why.
 *  Provide an illustration of how you have improved the data presentation.
 *  You can turn a text reference into a table or chart, or a table into a chart.
 *  If you wish to turn a chart into a different type of chart, you may need to estimate the values of the original chart.
 *  **NOTE:** Please bring to class enough copies for everyone to share: 30 copies. **OR** send the file with the citation, page number/s that contains the data, and the chart/table that you’ve created to demonstrate how you would improve the data presentation. And then I will make the copies instead of you.

 __Option 2: You have a qualitative research article on your topic__  //If the overall article is qualitative, but it has some tables or charts, follow the instructions above. This is only for articles which use NO tables (with quantification) or charts//.
 *  Give the complete citation for the article (including complete page range). Indicate which page has the information to which you refer.
 * <span style="font-family: Bookman Old Style,serif;"> Present in one paragraph length **discussion****(this is not written but verbally shared)** some of the ways in which the authors of the article have handled quantification. Have they reported number of respondents? Number of responses in particular categories?
 * <span style="font-family: Bookman Old Style,serif;"> Present in one paragraph length **discussion** a way in which you can visually represent some of what can be quantified.
 * <span style="font-family: Bookman Old Style,serif;"> Provide an illustration of how you created a chart to display some data.
 * <span style="font-family: Bookman Old Style,serif;"> The most direct way will probably be to illustrate numbers of participants, from particular sites or in particular categories. A pie chart with only two categories can be an effective graph.


 * <span style="font-family: Bookman Old Style,serif;"> Make sure you are illustrating compatible units, and that data does not overlap (in general, data that is in one ‘bar’ or area of a chart should not also appear in another).
 * <span style="font-family: Bookman Old Style,serif;"> **NOTE:** Please bring to class enough copies for everyone to share: 30 copies. **OR** send the file with the citation, page number/s that contains the data, and the chart/table that you’ve created to demonstrate how you would visually represent the data. And then I will make the copies instead of you.

<span style="font-family: Bookman Old Style,serif;"> __**General Note**__**: If you cannot attend class – and I hope that you make every effort to do so – then you must turn in completely written version of this assignment.**