Some ideas on good report

What is a good data analysis presentation

Three types of reserach questions

  • Patterns of association – focus on pattern discovery
  • Causal question – identify the effect of an intervention
    • Experiment
    • Observational data
  • Build a predictive model – focus on selection, understand how model works

Let us focus on association

Think questions like

  • Are people working more hours, make more money/hour?
  • How much less does a car worth when having 1000km more in odometer?
  • What is the relationship between hotel prices and location / amenities?

Causal would be

  • In an intervention, we make some people work more, will they have a high w/h?

Prediction would be

  • Here is wage data, let us build a model for hourly wage

What to include in a report

Consider a few-page report on an association with some possibility for causal analysis (later)

Key parts of the report

  • Introduction (why interesting)
  • Research question
  • Data description
    • source
    • variables
  • Methods
    • what method you use (e.g. cross section OLS)
    • regression you estimate precisely
  • Results
    • Include exhibits (think about graphs, tables)
    • Decide on main result and focus on explaining it (e.g. \(x\) coefficient)
      • Hint: think for the reader – what would help them understand?
  • Conclusion
    • Short: 1-2 para
    • Discussion to summarize result (in plain English)
    • Place result in context
      • is it causal
      • external validity
    • (no need for future research)