8.4 Data presentation 203
number of hours each student worked on their assignment. Notice how the chart shows a general upward trend, perhaps indicating that there is a relationship between these two
variables. Although the strength and significance of this relationship would be calculated statistically, the chart provides a visual interpretation of this relationship which is perhaps
easier to follow than some statistical calculations. This is not to say that you could omit any rigorous statistical interpretation of data that you obtain but that you can support
these calculations and improve their presentation by use of appropriate figures and tables within your report.
8.4.3 Checklist
Saunders et al. 2007: 421 present a checklist of points that you should observe when you have completed tables and figures within your report. For both diagrams and tables,
they recommend that you ask yourself the following questions:
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‘Does it have a brief but clear and descriptive title?’
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‘Are the units of measurement used stated clearly?’
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‘Are the sources of data used stated clearly?’
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‘Are there notes to explain any abbreviations?’
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‘Have you stated the sample size?’ For diagrams, the following checklist of questions are suggested:
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‘Does it have clear axis labels?’
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‘Are bars and their components in the same logical sequence?’
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‘Is more dense shading used for smaller areas?’
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‘Is a key or legend included where necessary?’ And for tables:
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‘Does it have clear column and row headings?’
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‘Are columns and rows in a logical sequence?’
8.4.4 Common mistakes
You should not include figures and tables within your report just for the sake of it. They should be there to support arguments you make within the text and to clarify, in dia-
grammatical form, data, results and interpretations you are making. This leads to the first common mistake that people sometimes make in using figures and tables – including
them unnecessarily. Figure 8.12 is an example of just such a case where a pie chart is pre- sented sometimes even on a whole page adding no value to the report whatsoever. In
this case, as 100 of those questioned responded ‘yes’, the use of the pie chart, which normally shows proportions, is unnecessary and makes the report look as though it is
being padded out because it has little of real value to say.
The second common mistake when using charts is to use the wrong kind when another type of chart would present your data more clearly. Figure 8.13 provides just such an
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Figure 8.12 100 of respondents said ‘yes’
Figure 8.13
‘Incorrect’ use of a line chart
Figure 8.14
‘Dramatic’ decline in spending
example – in this case, a line chart is being used when a trend isn’t the focus of attention. Although one might be interested in trying to identify the shape of the underlying distri-
bution of degree grades, a bar chart would be more appropriate in this case. Another common mistake people make when including charts within reports is to
scale them incorrectly. Sometimes this is done deliberately to hide the true meaning of the data presented. At other times it is done by accident when you are unsure about
what your data are trying to tell you or what your data mean. Figures 8.14 and 8.15 present a university department’s spending between 1980 and
1999. Although both these figures present exactly the same data, using exactly the same type of chart, they both appear very differently. Figure 8.14 shows, perhaps, an alarming
8.4 Data presentation 205
Figure 8.15
Less dramatic decline in spending
decrease in spending during this period; while Figure 8.15 puts this ‘trend’ into perspec- tive and shows that spending has changed only very slightly over this period of time.
However, Figure 8.14 provides a good view of the detail of the spending changes while Figure 8.15 provides little information on what has happened. In Figure 8.15, it appears,
unless you look very closely, that spending has not changed at all throughout this period, but you know this is not the case. These two figures emphasise the importance of getting
scales right. You need to decide what it is you are attempting to show, not what you are attempting to hide, and scale your charts accordingly.
8.4.5 Miscellaneous charts
Some less common charts that you might come across and wish to use are presented in Figures 8.16 to 8.19. Figure 8.16 is a three-dimensional bar chart which is used to enhance
the appearance of ‘bland’ two dimensional charts. While these charts don’t necessarily add anything significant to the presentation of the data, they do provide a more visually
appealing diagram.
Figure 8.17 is a polar chart which is used to compare variables with several compara- ble factors. For example, each ‘arm’ of the polar chart would represent a particular factor
Figure 8.16
An example three-dimensional bar chart axes have deliberately not been labelled for clarity
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Figure 8.17
An example polar chart comparing two software systems
Figure 8.18 An example doughnut chart
and each shape would represent the variable in which you were interested. Each shape would thus provide an indication of the similarities and differences of each variable for
each of the factors presented on each axis. In the case of Figure 8.17, each arm repre- sents a user’s view of different aspects of two software systems A and B. In this case, it
is easy to see that the user, for example, prefers the interface of System A but they prefer the functionality provided by System B.
Figure 8.18 is a doughnut chart, another type of pie chart. The advantage of this representation is that you can now plot several pie charts together on the same figure
to enable proportional comparisons between variables to be made. Figure 8.19 is a factor analysis plot which presents the results of two combined fac-
tors from a factor analysis. This figure helps to show how variables are grouped together depending on a number of factors in two dimensions. While some of the variables may
appear closely related to one another in this diagram; looking at other factors in other dimensions might show that they are not. Factor analysis is a statistical technique that
can only really be performed using a statistical software package. The calculations are much too complex to be performed by hand.
8.4.6 Other data presentation
Not only will you be presenting data in the form of charts and graphs, there are other things you might wish to present, too – program listings, designs,
8.4 Data presentation 207
Figure 8.19 An example factor analysis plot
photographs, diagrams and more. When presenting these kinds of data, keep the following tips in mind:
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As for charts and graphs, each figure should be uniquely numbered and labelled.
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Try to keep figures and listings to one page. If code listings spread over several pages, consider moving the listing to an appendix and include only short extracts of interesting
algorithmssections in the main body of the report.
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Consider alternative ways of presenting diagrams. For example, rather than including several figures showing the evolution of a system’s interface design, you could
include a photograph showing the preliminary sketches and interim designs next to one another – for example, see Figure 8.20.
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Present pseudo code and designs in boxes rather than ‘floating’ amongst the text – for example, see Figure 8.21.
Figure 8.20 An example of preliminary and interim design presentation using a photograph
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Figure 8.21
Pseudo code of an example algorithm
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8.5 Referencing material and avoiding plagiarism
8.5.1 Introduction
‘Nothing is said that has not been said before.’
Terence ca. 195–159 BC, The Eunuch, Prol.
With Terence’s statement in mind, it is important that you support the work you are presenting within your report by appropriate references. Much of what you present
will have been touched on, discussed, written about or covered by other authors in the past – particularly for undergraduate projects. Thus, any arguments that you make
within your report and, especially within your literature review, should be justified by referencing previous research Saunders et al., 2007: 58. Material is referenced within
reports to:
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Avoid plagiarism. In other words, you do not present other people’s ideas, thoughts, words, figures, diagrams or results without referencing them, as if their
work were your own; in other words, you must credit people with their ideas. Plagiarism can be performed accidentally or deliberately, but in either case it is
deemed a serious academic offence. This is one reason why you should perform an extensive literature survey – to ensure that you are not merely repeating the work
of others.
The concept of plagiarism and its significance varies between countries and cul- tures. For example, in the East, Confucianism embraces the concept of collective
knowledge owned by society as a whole rather than individuals Hirji, 2004. Hirji goes on to state that the idea of individuals acquiring knowledge and ‘owning’ that
knowledge is frowned upon. In the West, plagiarism is looked upon more as the ‘theft’ of other people’s ideas if we try to present them as our own.
There are a number of tools available to examiners that can be used to assess whether or not work has been plagiarised. One example is turnitin see
www.submit.ac.uk which ‘enables institutions and staff to carry out electronic comparison of students’
work against electronic sources including other students’ work’. Generally speaking, you will be criticised and penalised in most institutions if
you do not cite the work of others appropriately. One thing you should try to do is to carefully annotate your notes when you read articles so you can distinguish
between direct quotes you have copied, ideas you have taken from other authors
8.5 Referencing material and avoiding plagiarism 209
and your own ideas. When you come to write up your final report you will then know what requires referencing either directly or indirectly.
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Identify context. To place your work in context with other recognised publications. This will strengthen your report by showing how it builds and extends the work of
others and how it resides within a recognised academic field of study.
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Support and validate. To support your own arguments and validate any statements that you make. If you are making certain claims you will have to support these with
either research results or references to other authors.
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Identify sources. Provide people reading your report with a comprehensive list of related work that they can use to study your topic in more detail or take your work
further. By identifying sources clearly, people reading your report will be able to locate the articles you have used.
Cornford and Smithson 2006: 107 identify a number of issues with referencing that appear in poor student reports. Poor reports often exhibit the following so these
are things you should avoid:
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A lack of references. What references there are refer to standard texts. You should refer to more than just the standard text books recommended on the first year of
your course.
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A lot of references to old and obscure texts. This might indicate you have merely copied them from another source rather than reading around the subject and iden-
tify more contemporary sources.
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The references in the main body do not match with the list of references at the back of the report. This is sloppy and suggests ‘a failure to recognise the importance of
references’.
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The references are swamped with URLs rather than traditional sources. Although the Internet can provide a useful starting point for research, the content is largely
unrefereed. A reference list dominated by URLs shows a lack of rigour in your liter- ature search and an element of laziness. It also indicates that your work might not
have a firm foundation but may be built on a number of opinions and ideas that have yet to be established.
There are two aspects to referencing. The first aspect to consider is how to use ref- erences correctly within the body of your report – in terms of their presentation and
appropriateness – called citing. The second aspect is how to present these references correctly at the end of your report. Each of these aspects will be dealt with in turn.
8.5.2 Citing references
Generally speaking, there are two ways to cite references – the Harvard System and the Numeric System
also called the Vancouver System. There are numerous variations on these techniques that have their own idiosyncrasies for example, Chicago is a form similar
to Harvard; MLA-style and CBE-style are forms based on the numeric system. However, we will concentrate here on a general overview of a Harvard-type system. Harvard is the
