Discussion

Discussion 1(Finry)

If I were to be charged with creating and delivering a brief presentation to a group of non-company stakeholders about the key findings from the case study, here is how I’d be presenting it.

I’d do an introduction like this: “After conducting an analysis of data on four variables (Home Value, median household income, median per capita and percent of homes that are owner occupied) collected from the 50 US States, we have calculated various descriptive statistics, create a summary tables, and created various charts to summarize the data. The purpose of the analysis is to determine if there are any relations between the four variables by analyzing central tendency, variability, shape of the distribution and pattern of relationship between the variables. We are going to discuss the key findings.”

Then discuss the content like this:

“First, we analyzed the descriptive statistics such as the mean, median, range, and standard deviation of each variable and summarized the results in a table. These descriptive statistics are a summary of data set of the four variables. For example, the mean or average is a measure of central location, and the median is the value of a data set.

Second, we created histograms, boxplots, and scatterplots to easily visualize if there are any relationships between the variables. The histograms helped determine whether the distribution has a symmetric shape by using frequency. The boxplots are used to determine the minimum and maximum values of a data set and its three quartiles. It can also be used to determine if a distribution is symmetry or not. In this case the histogram may be the best way to use to interpret the relationships. (show histograms) We found that the shape of the distribution for Home Value, household income, and per cap inc are positively skewed meaning that there are small numbers of relatively large values.

Third, we calculated the correlation coefficient for each variable with each other to determine the strength of linear relationship between them. The value of the correlation falls between -1 and 1, with 1 being a strong positive relationship and -1 being the negative one. We found that the relationship between home value and household income is the strongest.”

And end with questions and answers session.

Discussion 2 (Dani)

While presenting analysis to an audience unfamiliar with the data, charts and table are the most effective way to communicate your findings. Presentations should be concise and use visual aids to support the information, while guiding the audience to understand your analysis and ideally agree with your position. Using only text can be difficult for an audience to understand the impact certain information has on the population of the data.

Charts and tables are the most effective ways for an audience to visualize data. Showing information in a histogram or scatterplot chart allows the audience to see the frequency of the data and the influence it has on the population, specifically the mean and median. The information in the home values case study was provided in text format. It is simple to state the mean, median, standard deviation, etc. of this data in type text but is not always the most comprehensive representation of the information. For example, using simple text to state the median household incomes of the samples would be easily understood by the audience. However, when displaying the median household income of the population on a histogram or box plot chart, it transforms the data to show the disparities among each state. While showing states with the highest median household income the presenter can transition towards scatterplot charts that show median household income vs home values, which is difficult to convey with simple text. The data comes to life when it is visualized, not to mention it is easier for the audience to stay engaged when viewing visuals rather than plain text.

In conclusion, I believe charts and graphs are the best way to present analysis to an audience that is not familiar with the data. An audience can become disconnected from a presentation if they are overwhelmed from the information that is being introduced. Charts and tables allow the audience to comprehend the data for themselves and come to their own conclusions about the analysis, rather than being told by the presenter what the information implies. When introducing statistical information to an audience unfamiliar with the data, charts and tables will be the most important tool to support the presenter’s analysis.  

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