Producing Effective Tables and Figures

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Take this quick quiz to check to see if you are a wizard at producing effective tables and figures.

1) Decide whether the following four situations are better suited to displaying data in a figure or a table.
a) You have sampled 35 different ponds in British Columbia and taken two measurements in each one (water temperature and O2 concentration (%)).
b) You measured the length (cm) and weight (g), and counted the number of colourful spots on 25 different salmon caught in one lake and want to show the variation in these fish.
c) You wanted to see which food type these salmon preferred when given a choice of worms, beetles, larvae, and bread, so you made all four types available to each salmon and recorded its first choice.
d) You noted whether each fish ate one of the food types within 30 seconds, whether it swam alone or in a shoal, and whether it was scared or curious when it heard a ‘plop’ in the water and want to display these data.
2) Consider Table 1 below

Table 1: Table Showing The Effects of Treatment Dose.

Treatment Dose (mg)	Weight Gain After 2 Weeks (g)	The Patient Was Happy (Yes/No), The Patient Was Sleeping Well (Yes/No)
100	370	Yes, No
150	430	No, No
300	765	No, Yes
200	480	No, Yes
500	1060	Yes, No
250	490	Yes, Yes
350	740	Yes, No
400	900	No, Yes

Choose the THREE BIGGEST problems associated with presenting the data in this way.
- A.The title is vague and doesn’t describe the pattern of the data
- B.The treatment dose measurements do not appear in logical order
- C.The data should be highlighted in a figure, not a table
- D.The data in the last column should be split into two columns
- E.The data in the last columns should be represented by symbols (ticks and crosses) instead of Yes/No answers
- F.The colour scheme (alternating blue and white rows) is confusing
3) Now consider Table 2 below and the data in it before ranking the following three potential titles from best to worst (choose 1 for best, 2 for second-best, 3 for worst):
A. A good night’s sleep enhances student productivity.
B. Amount of sleep affects student productivity.
C. Too much – or too little – sleep reduces student productivity.

Table 2: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Mean Amount of Sleep for Students Each Night (hours)	Mean Time Taken for Students to Complete Six Tasks in Class (minutes)
6	140
6.5	145
7	125
7.5	125
8	115
8.5	115
9	110
9.5	115
10	125