This workshop (held both on Thursday and on Friday) is an introduction to the principles of good graph and table design as pioneered by Cleveland¹ and Tufte² and updated by Few³ so that the participant can better answer the following questions:

Which of the messages in my research results requires a graph or table?

Recognising how graphs improve on simple statistics and convey much more information. Knowing when a table is better, or when to keep the data in the body text.

How can I best convey the message?

Striving for clear vision by choice of graph, scaling, discrimination of data series, minimising non-data ink, avoiding chart junk. Striving for clear understanding through a balance between data and explanation. Using order, subheadings, formatting and rules to guide your reader through your table data.

Is my graph/table truthful?

Creating a direct proportion between graph and data quantities, avoiding forms prone to misinterpretation, labels to prevent ambiguity; keeping data in context, avoiding more dimensions in the graph than in the data. Visualisation in Tables is further discussed in my recent article that is freely downloadable.⁴

This year’s course will extend introductory material available via YouTube clips on the ARD website (ard.com)! Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXU14EQbU_V9JpmolAKsaCC0VjJzbxzAN

Note that you can also sign up for a special lecture,

“Theory of poster design and presentation” followed by a poster tour after the session, devoted to poster design!

Session Title: EULAR Projects – Challenging Projects in Education and Training

Date/Time: Saturday 16.06.2018 08:30–10:00

Room: Room: E106/E107

Followed by Poster Tour, signup required!

References [1] Cleveland WS. The elements of graphing data: Hobart Press, Summit, NJ, USA; 1994.

[2] Tufte E. The visual display of quantitative information 2nd ed: Graphics Press, Cheshire, CT, USA; 2001.

[3] Few S. Show me the numbers. Designing tables and graphs to enlighten 2nd ed. Analytics Press, Oakland, CA, USA; 2012.

[4] Boers M. Graphics and statistics for cardiology: designing effective tables for presentation and publication. Heart2018;104:192–200. http://heart.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/heartjnl-2017-311581

Disclosure of Interest None declared