Painting a Picture Worth 1000 Words: Using Microsoft Excel or R Statistical Software (or Adobe Photoshop Elements) to Create Graphs and Charts with Powerful Messages Catherine Callow-Heusser  ndVision Research & Evaluation, LLC

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Some Good NON-Examples Thanks to Jim Akers at Utah State University for some of these examples  Presenting Data to Humans in Humane Ways presented by Jim Akers at the Society of Research in Human Development Conference in Park City, UT, 2004

Some Examples: Painting a Picture Worth 1000 Words

Graphical Solutions to Real Problems In 1854, John Snow plotted cholera deaths and water pumps. Snow’s work is often cited as a landmark in epidemiology. From The Visual Display of Quantitative Data by Edward Tufte, 1983

Pump  Death from Cholera

Graphical Solutions to Real Problems During World War II, Abraham Wald tried to determine where to add extra armor to planes based on the pattern of bullet holes in returning aircraft. He determined where returning planes had been shot and recommended putting extra armor everyplace else! From Eelworms, Bullet Holes, and Geraldine Ferraro: Some Problems With Statistical Adjustment and Some Solutions by Howard Wainer (1989)

Two Slide “Animation” During a presentation, move back and forth between two slides  “Focus your eyes on the green, that color that shows the percentage of students reading on grade level.”  “Focus your eyes on the red, the color that indicates students reading far below grade level.”

BIE Reading First Cohort Beginning- of-Year DIBELS Instructional Recommendations School 1 School 2 School 3 School 4 School 5 School 6 School 7 School 8 School 9 School 10 School 11 School 12

BIE Reading First Cohort END- of-Year DIBELS Instructional Recommendations School 1 School 2 School 3 School 4 School 5 School 6 School 7 School 8 School 9 School 10 School 11 School 12

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2 nd Grade Piecewise Regression: Cohort I ORF Scores, 2 nd Grade

How to Create Powerful Messages with Data

Rather than… Prior to the workshop, most participants did not feel prepared to teach about variables, but the workshop (a) increased participants’ knowledge about variables, (b) changed the way they will plan for instruction about variables, and (c) provided strategies that will help them more effectively teach about variables.

Add Graphs to Highlight Important Survey Items!

Steps Create the charts in Excel  Keep the charts simple  Remove any unnecessary lines, legends, etc. Create a table in Word with 2 columns, one for text and one for chart Copy from Excel and paste into Word table Resize the chart  Once one is sized correctly, record the size and make successive charts the same size (format  picture  size)

When Statistical Packages Limit You Copy the graph or chart Paste the chart into Adobe Photoshop Elements (less than $100) Recolor Relabel Remove

BIE Reading First Cohort 1 SAT-10 Standard Scores: Comprehension Created in SPSS

25 BIE Reading First Cohort 1 SAT-10 Standard Scores: Comprehension Re-Created in Adobe Photoshop Elements

BIE Reading First Cohort End-of- Year DIBELS Instructional Recommendations School 1 School 2 School 3 School 4 School 5 School 6 School 7 School 8 School 9 School 10 School 11 School 12

Data for This Chart

Does a bar chart work?

Let’s try a different bar chart

Changes Remove outside border around chart Right click on chart, format  chart area  line Fix bars  Add bar labels Right click on bars, add data labels  Make bar labels bold Right click on labels, format data labels  font  Change bar width Right click on bars, format data series  options  gap width  Change bar colors Right click on bars, format data series, fill color Reverse order of y-axis Right click on y-axis, format axis  scale  categories in reverse order

And More Changes Change x-axis scale Right click on x-axis  format data labels  font Fix legend  Move legend to bottom Right click on legend, format legend  position  Make legend font larger Right click on legend, format legend  font  Move legend to align it with bars Drag the legend text box Add x-axis title Mac: insert a text box on the spreadsheet, not the chart PC: format chart area and add x-axis title  Change line color around text box Right click on axis-label text box, format  line Add a chart title in Excel, Word or PowerPoint

% of Students BIE Reading First Cohort End-of- Year DIBELS Instructional Recommendations

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Initial Excel Version (Mac)

Changes Switch row/column data  Right click, Select data source  Switch row/column Move legend to bottom and resize Change bar colors and patterns Change line colors on bars Add bar labels Change text font size, as needed Get rid of gray line around graph Add title and axis labels

Final Version (Mac, add title)

2 nd Grade Piecewise Regression: Cohort I ORF Scores, 2 nd Grade Created in R Statistical Software

Initial R Version

2 nd Grade Me to Get R Code for Changes Piecewise Regression: Cohort I ORF Scores, 2 nd Grade

Some Design Principals Keep it simple  If it doesn’t need to be 3-D, don’t! Choose a chart style that’s appropriate Add legends, data values, axis titles, chart titles—but only if they are necessary With multiple graphs, keep scales consistent Get rid of extra lines around charts, legends, etc. Make colors relevant Use colors and patterns that can be printed in black and white and still be meaningful

And Remember… Make it understandable without requiring explanation or scrutinizing Pass it by a colleague, lay person, or member of the target audience to make sure it’s as clear as YOU think it is! Set aside your ego…a powerful message is more important than showing off all you know or all you can do with the application If it gets a gasp from your target audience, you’ll know it works!

Speaking of Target Audiences… 42

43 EndVision Research & Evaluation, LLC 41 E University Blvd #321 Logan, UT PH FX President/Director: Catherine Callow-Heusser

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