Use tables to present and illustrate your statistical findings.

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Tables can be your best friend in writing the main body of the report – the statistical findings. They should be used to both present and illustrate your statistical findings.

Usually, the statistical tables are developed after the statistics are tabulated in SPSS or another software package. This provides you with the means to have the tables to use when you tackle the narrative portion. Writing directly from the tables, generated by the study, will take the guesswork out of organizing the findings. It will be easy to present the findings logically in a way the Committee can follow.

Keep the tables simple. Some tables are intimidating because of the large amounts of numbers they present. It is recommended that only one or two variables be presented in one table. This enables the Committee to see your point, not be confused and assimilate the message or finding. If you are reporting gender and grade levels, that is enough in one table. Instead of putting several variables in one table, use several tables to simplify the presentation.

Do not report numbers without percentages. In your tables that describe categorical variables or those variables with nominal or ordinal scales, do not list the numbers in each category without the corresponding percentages. With raw numbers only, you make the reader work hard; why should they? Again, make the data easy for the Committee to grasp. Percentages convert raw data in categories into meaningful information. The message is immediate and clear.


Return from tables to writing your dissertation.