Table Preparation and Visualization

A table is a means of visualizing quantitative data. Both content and presentation are important for messaging from data in a table. Thus, table preparation is a fusion of both science and arts. Science helps generate data, and art helps present data in a tabular form that a reader can easily understand. In this article, I present tips for preparing a table for better visualization.

Unit of Measure

The unit of measure needs to be clearly written for a field or column of data. For example, a table presents the annual income in the United States Dollar (UDS) of countries. The title of the field needs to mention the unit of measure as "annual income in US$". If the annual income is deduced to the million value the unit of measure needs to be written as "annual income in Million US$".

Grouping of Similar Column Headings

In case two or more columns present similar data, the grouping of these columns will add value to the table. For example, if the income in US$ comes from different sources such as 1) agriculture, 2) trade, and 3) industry, the grouped title is "Annual Income in US$" and three columns have separate titles on different sources of income. Excel spreadsheet has the "Merge" function to group the title.

Sorting of Data

Sorting of data is important for looking at data in some order. Multiple sorting will further sort data of a column in the given value of another column. For example, a column in a table presents annual income in the highest to the lowest order of countries. Another column presents the annual expenditure in highest to the lowest order of countries having the same annual income. If two or more countries have equal annual incomes, sorting will help compare which of these countries have the highest to lowest annual expenditure.

Putting Summary Data Row First

Putting the total value or the average value in the first data row of the table will help compare data in other rows below. An Excel spreadsheet, upon freezing the total value row, will help work or review data on the below rows taking in mind the total or average value. This is much helpful if a table has a number of data rows to view or scroll up (in Excel).

Numbering of Columns

A table could have more than two columns of data. The increasing number of columns will increase the complexity of referring to the columns while narrating the table. In such a case, the numbering of columns will help at least refer to a particular column. For example, if the 15th and 20th columns refer to annual income in US$ and annual expenditure in US$ respectively. If the "Income Expenditure Ratio" is calculated and presented in column 30, the numbering of columns as "30" will help explain these columns in the narration as the value in 30th column is calculated as the value in 15th column divided by the value in 20th column.

Serial Numbering of Rows

If a table has a number of columns the numbering of rows in both the first and last columns will help the table readers to locate the data row or cells across columns. For lack of such numbering, one can be lost going through data between rows.

Table Format

The table header can be highlighted to differentiate between the table header row and data rows. Likewise, summary row Besides, an Excel spreadsheet has several table formats to make tables look colourful and attractive.

Short table title and numbering are other features to make a table informative and attractive, altough these are not the exhaustive list of tips.