Presenting Information with Charts Task Sheet

Presenting Information with Charts

Spreadsheets may be great for analysing data but rows and columns of figures may not tell the story very effectively. Above is some data about how confident staff at institutions surveyed, in various age groups, feel about using different applications and equipment. The ‘Benchmark’ is the level expected for their roles. It’s not terribly obvious at first glance what these results mean.

The chart below, however, makes it much clearer.

The under 25s are generally pretty confident whilst the 45-54 group would benefit from some training in finding and utilising images effectively. Similar charts could be produced for the other categories.

Not all charts would work though.

1. Your task is to create suitable charts for each of the 9 skill categories in the data above. They do not need to be blobs like this illustration but you do need to check that the type you have used does actually show sensible and meaningful comparisons between each age group for each skill.

2. Label the chart suitably with a title ‘Using [Skill]’ and ‘Confidence level’ on whichever axis you have used for the scores. There should be clear identification of the different age groups.

3. Either add a line or use colours (or both) to show whether each age group’s score is below, at or above the ‘Benchmark’ figure.

4. Copy the charts you create to a document (as small images) or presentation (as larger images) and ensure that all your files are saved.

5. For one of the 9 skills (your choice), create an alternative type of chart to display the data. Add this to your document or slideshow together with your summary of which type you feel illustrates the data best.

Output

Data table

Charts type 1 with labels

Adjustments to include visual comparison to a Benchmark

Document or slides with charts

Chart with alternative display

Summary of reasons for display