The last few weeks have been very exciting for me because I have been working on my first research project as a professional librarian. To support my outreach work to health professionals in the community, I surveyed K-12 school nurses about their information needs. The collection period is over, and now it’s time to dig in to the data!

I have been looking forward to the analysis of the survey results, to reveal the answers to the questions I’ve been asking this particular population. However, it’s not as straightforward as seeing which answers received the highest percentage of responses and throwing it on a graph, which I’m embarrassed to say is what I was envisioning. In order to accurately represent the data, you need to select the best statistical methods which may vary depending on the survey question. You need to consider whether you are comparing two groups or not, whether there are outliers, if assigning a ranking system is appropriate – the list goes on and on. The same is true of how you visually represent the data – a bar chart may be the best option for some questions, while a simple data table is better for others.

So to bring myself up to speed, I’ve been digging into the literature. A colleague loaned me a copy of “How To Conduct Surveys: A Step-By-Step Guide” by Arlene Fink. It’s actually a great resource for the entire survey process, but at this point I paid particular attention to Chapter 6 “Analyzing and Organizing Data From Surveys” and Chapter 7 “Presenting the Survey Results”. There’s an excellent checklist that reviews the key information to consider when choosing statistical methods for analysis, and an overview of the most common methods of representing and presenting data.

I also looked at the NLM Evaluation Office and discovered some analysis and visualization tools that lead me to Stephanie Evergreen’s book “Presenting Data Effectively”. It covers not only the best visualization method, but also the aesthetic aspect of data representation. The appendix includes a research and evaluation report layout checklist, that describes how to make your final report as visually appealing as possible. Evergreen also as an interesting blog about the latest developments in data representation.

It’s been an involved learning process so far, and I’m only halfway done at this point. But I’m looking forward to completing this project and applying what I’ve learned to my next one!