The language of writing about data

Keep your aims and audience in mind while you write

The data you select and present should be relevant to your purpose. Appropriate data selection and analysis show that you are able to think critically and know how to support your argument.

Organise and present data that can maximise clarity and impact

Identify important patterns, trends, or relationships within your data. What do you notice? What does this indicate? What does this mean?

You might need to approach writing about your data differently, depending on whether your data is quantitative or qualitative.

• When writing about quantitative data, look for trends. Ask yourself “What do the trends indicate?”, and accordingly, apply the language that demonstrates what you have noticed.
• When writing about qualitative data, identify themes/categories. Think about the story that you want to tell and use the language that best represents those themes/categories in your story. Link to any quantitative data if available.

Link your data to your literature review or research question

It is important to link your findings to the question(s) your research plans to answer. What were the key themes you identified? How do these relate to your own findings? Write clearly and explicitly to show this link.

Signal description, interpretation, and analysis to the reader

It is important to help your reader follow your ideas. For example, when you present data in a chart, label the chart, refer to the chart clearly in your text and then, rather than just describing it, make sure you also interpret or analyse the data.

A common mistake is to simply describe the content of a chart or a table in text. This does not add any value or meaning. Use language to describe (e.g. ‘The number of enrolments dropped significantly’), language that indicates interpretation (e.g. ‘The data suggested a decline’) and/or analysis (e.g. ‘The analysis demonstrates a strong correlation’) where relevant.