Data Analysis and Interpretation ENG 105

Data analysis
and Interpretation
ENG 105
Data analysis and interpretation
• Think about analysis EARLY

• Start with a plan
• Code, enter, clean
• Analyze
• Interpret
• Reflect
– What did we learn?
– What conclusions can we draw?
– What are our recommendations?
– What are the limitations of our analysis?
Why do I need an analysis plan?
• To make sure the questions and your data
collection instrument will get the information
you want
• Think about your “report” when you are
designing your data collection instruments
Do you want to report…
• the number of people who answered each question?
• how many people answered a, b, c, d?
• the percentage of respondents who answered a, b, c, d?
• the average number or score?
• the mid-point among a range of answers?
• a change in score between two points in time?
• how people compared?
• quotes and people’s own words
• X axis( Horizontal) and Y axis(vertical)
The following words and phrases will help you describe
trends:
a rise to rise o show an upward trend
an increase to increase to show a downward trend
a surge to surge to hit the highest point
a growth to grow to hit the lowest point
a peak to peak to reach a peak
to skyrocket to show some fluctuation
a fluctuation to fluctuate wildly
a variation to fluctuate to remain stable
to vary to remain static
a period of stability to remain unchanged
a plateau to fall to stay constant
to decrease to reach a plateau
a fall to decline to level off
a decrease to dip
a decline to dive the highest
a dip to plunge the lowest
the second highest
the third highest
compared to
Adverbs and Adjectives
Dates Numbers Comparison
In December, Increase of 25% Compared to
In 2005, Decreased by 10% Compared with
From 2001-2010, Fell from 200 in July to Relative to
By 1998, 150 in August
Between 1965-1969
Sample sentences
• There was a substantial increase in the

value of stocks on March 15th.
• House prices rose dramatically in July.
• The number of tourists visiting New York
fell sharply in October.
• The percentage of students walking to
school continued to rise gradually over the
ten year period from 2000-2010.
More useful words and phrases
• Percent – the word percent comes after a

number
Examples:
More than 25% of the students are from
Brazil.
More than 25 percent of the students come
from Brazil.
• Percentage - The word percentage comes
after words like the, a, this and that. Often,
it is preceded by an adjective.
Examples:
A small percentage of residents have lived
in the building for more than 20 years.
The percentage of students who live on
campus has fallen sharply since the fire.
• For numbers up to ten, write the numbers in
words. For numbers over 10, you can write the
numbers in numbers.
Examples:
Five percent of the employees were late this
month.
More than 50 percent of the students handed in
their assignments late after the long weekend.
• If the sentence starts with a number, always
write it in words.
Examples: Wrong: 25 students were from
China.
Right: Twenty-five students were from
China.
Grammar
Take note of the following prepositions which
you will need to describe dates, numbers
and comparisons:
Dates Numbers Comparison
In December, Increase of 25% Compared to
In 2005, Decreased by 10% Compared with
From 2001-2010, Fell from 200 in July to Relative to
By 1998, 150 in August
Between 1965-1969
• There are three basic things you need to
analyze and interpret a graph .
• Introduce the graph
• Give an overview
• Give the detail
Example:
• The line graph below shows changes in
the amount and type of fast food
consumed by Australian teenagers from
1975 to 2000.
• Summarize the information by selecting
and reporting the main features and
make comparisons where relevant.
• Write at least 150 words.
1) Introduce the Graph
• You need to begin with one or two sentences that
state what task shows. To do this, paraphrase the
title of the graph, making sure you put in a time
frame if there is one.
• Here is an example for the above line graph:
• The line graph illustrates the amount of fast food consumed by
teenagers in Australia between 1975 and 2000, a period of 25
years.
• You can see this says the same thing as the title,
but in a different way.
2) Give an Overview
• You also need to state what the main trend or

trends in the graph are. Don’t give detail such as
data here – you are just looking for something
that describes what is happening overall.
• One thing that stands out in this graph is that
one type of fast food fell over the period, whilst
the other two increased, so this would be a good
overview.
• Here is an example:
• Overall, the consumption of fish and
chips declined over the period, whereas
the amount of pizza and hamburgers that
were eaten increased.
• This covers the main changes that took
place over the whole period.
3) Give the Detail
• You can now give more specific detail in

the body paragraphs.
• The key to organizing your body
paragraphs for an this task 1 is to group
data together where there are patterns.
• To do this you need to identify any
similarities and differences.
Look at the graph – what things are
similar and what things are different?
As we have already identified in the

overview, the consumption of fish and chips
declined over the period, whereas the
amount of pizza and hamburgers that were
eaten increased.
Here is an example of the body
paragraph:
In 1975, the most popular fast food with
Australian teenagers was fish and chips,
being eaten 100 times a year. This was far
higher than pizza and hamburgers, which
were consumed approximately 5 times a
year. However, apart from a brief rise
again from 1980 to 1985, the consumption
of fish and chips gradually declined over
the 25 year timescale to finish at just under
40 times per year.
The structure
• Introduction
Body
Conclusion
• Introduction should describe the purpose of
report and say what overall trends you see.
For example, if the graph is climbing up or
dropping down, you should mention that. You
need to remember that you are describing a
graph to someone who doesn’t see it. Write
what the graph is about, its dates and location.
Body should describe the most important
trends, while all information is summarized
to avoid unnecessary details. For example, if
there is a graph that has 2 peaks, you should
mention them; tell when those peaks
appeared and what the peak values are.
Notice how many distinctive features
diagram has and divide information into
paragraphs, one paragraph for one feature.
You should link the paragraphs by sentences
that logically connect them to one another.
• Important! You need to write about all the
periods of time and all the subjects of graph.If
it shows several years (1992, 1993, 1994) –
write about all of them, if it is about men and
women – write about both. Remember,
summarizing doesn’t mean throwing away
information. The secret here is to select what’s
important, organize it, compare and contrast.
• Conclusion should sum up the global
trends shown on the figure and compare
them if possible.
There are several different graphs
you could see in Task
• Single line graph –
• Double line graph Bar graph (Single,
Double or Triple bar graph)
• Pie chart
• Table
Tips:
Start with what the graph talks about
Give general description
White about the major changes depending on
trends
Selecting and reporting main features
Comparison and contrast
Use transitions

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Data analysis

• Think about analysis EARLY

• There was a substantial increase in the

• Percent – the word percent comes after a

• You also need to state what the main trend or

• You can now give more specific detail in

As we have already identified in the

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