Earlier this year I wrote a book entitled, ‘Boss Lady’ for the intermediate professional.
As I reflect on the book and my ‘training’ in statistics, I would say the most
important skill to learn is data reporting. In Chapter three of the book (page
20), focuses on typical tables that one would include in a publication. And
these standards for data reporting are found in thesis, dissertations, journal
publications, FDA submissions, adhoc reports in private businesses, etc. There
is a way to present data for decision-making discussions. For a second, let’s
go over why we bother to report the data to non-technical people. We share our
data with the world so that we can make more informed decisions. Someone asks
you, for instance, how many people have COVID-19 in a particular region. it
calls for a table that illustrated a breakdown of the numbers in terms of
demographic characteristics. I promise whoever is reading this blog, that you
will come across the demographic characteristic table throughout your career in
statistics. Sometimes, you may develop one out of necessity. The demographics
table is key to understanding the population under study. In Chapter 3 we see
mention of such a table:
“Any publication will include tabulations of demographic
characteristics about the sample population. Summaries of subject profile characteristics
help one become familiar with study participant. Descriptive statistics,
frequencies, and percentages are summary statistics that are used for most data
reporting. Demographics tables are the most common illustration for any
research project concerning subjects or patients”. – Boss Lady
The demographics tables is a very valuable tool as its structure can be
applied across fields and disciplines. The table structure allows one to
illustrate summary statistics for categorical and interval data. As you may
know, categorical data is typically summarized with counts and percentages.
Interval data is displayed a means and standard deviations. Summaries with
mixed variable types Programmatically speaking, there is value in knowing how
to stack different variable types in a table through SAS, SPSS, or some other
statistical program. And trust me when I tell you- the skill will take you far
as it is undervalued across institutions. The Boss Lady should have a portfolio
of statistical programs that enable you to summarize data.
Now why is it valuable to know how to create a demographics table? In the
book Boss Lady, I mention the need for adhoc reporting. a decision maker may
come to you and request a data illustration. You may request that of yourself
for an upcoming meeting! You are training the brain to see your work in the
eyes of others, who are less technical. Variable names are replaced with labels
that describe the data. Basically, you are translating the data into a
palatable format. If you are going to be a Boss Lady, data translation
programmatically is a valuable asset to any institution.
-Moore to follow Amy
Click here to purchase Boss Lady: Advanced Programing Topics for the Intermediate Level Professional.
