For those who want to learn R Programming, here is a great new course on youtube for beginners and Data Science aspirants. The content is great and the videos are short and crisp. New ones are getting added, so I suggest to subscribe.

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]]> http://stats.blogoverflow.com/2012/02/some-notes-on-making-effective-tables/#comment-448 Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:27:03 +0000 http://stats.blogoverflow.com/?p=486#comment-448 You’re really adding a lot of value with these posts. Compiling all of this information makes for a really useful reference as well. I’ve learned a lot from these (as I’m sure have others) and I appreciate it.

From a substantive standpoint, it’s worth thinking about why one ought to use a table instead of a graph. My position has always been that tables are best when some end users are going to need a specific piece of information, but you don’t know which; or different users are going to need one specific piece of information or other, but the specific one will differ from one reader to the next. To my mind, this is the rationale for tables. On the other hand, detecting patterns, or trends, amongst the numbers is very difficult with tables, and ultimately, this is the basis for the complaints about the use of tables in several of the classic resources you cite. Of course, some of the techniques you mention will mitigate against that, but graphs are pretty much always going to be better for that task. Lastly, I find your discussion of how tables and graphs can be combined or merged to be especially helpful.

Simpler and clearer communication is always the goal, and your efforts help to move the ball downfield. Thanks again.