Communicating about Statistics

Speakers:

Christian Ritter and Laura Symul, UCLouvain

Summary: 

In this seminar, we will discuss how to communicate efficiently about statistics via graphics, tabulation, presentation, and writing.

In the first half, from 14h30 to 15h30, we will focus on visual communication through graphics and tables. We will distinguish between using graphics and tables for ourselves and preparing graphics and tables for others. We will introduce the three laws of communication, show how perception and brain function are related to decoding graphics, tables, and displays, and give guidance for creating efficient and beautiful displays of quantitative information.

In the second half, from 16h to 17h, we will discuss written communication and oral presentations. Here, we will distinguish between communication in scientific and professional contexts. In the scientific context, there are journal articles and conference contributions such as posters and talks. In the professional context, there are technical reports and short presentations to project teams and management. Written and broadcast media are a special case. 

Reading materials:

1. Edward Tufte: The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, Envisioning Information, and Seeing with Fresh Eyes
2. Stephen Kosslyn: Elements of Graph Design, Graph Design for Eye and Mind
3. A. S. C. Ehrenberg (1986) ‘Reading a Table: An Example’, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series C (Applied Statistics), Vol. 35, No. 3, pp. 237-244.
4. A. S. C. Ehrenberg (1981) ‘The Problem of Numeracy’, The American Statistician, Volume 35, Issue2, pp. 67-71.
5. Jean-Luc Doumont (2009) ‘Trees, Maps, and Theorems’, available from the authors at www.principiae.be.
6. Jean-Luc Doumont (2013) “Creating Effective Slides”, talk given at CTLStanford https://youtu.be/meBXuTIPJQk
7. Uri Alon (2009) “ How to give a good talk” https://www.cell.com/molecular-cell/pdf/S1097-2765(09)00742-4.pdf
8. Joshua Schimel. “Writing Science: How to Write Papers That Get Cited and Proposals That Get Funded”

  TEAMS