Presenting information communicating meaning

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Presenting informationcommunicating meaning
Health Management Information Systems
João Carlos de Timóteo Mavimbe Oslo, April 2007
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Presenting information

• LEARNING OUTCOMES
• By the end of the session you should be able
  to
• Understand the purposes and basic principles of
  data presentation
• Present data in simple tables
• Select appropriate graph types to present the
  various types of data
• Build appropriate graphs for display of data
• Develop skills in proper presentation of
  information

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The information cycle Presenting Information
Tables, Graphs, Population, Maps
Presenting Interpreting
ANALYSIS Processing
USE
Collection
Input Raw data
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Preparing for Presentationessential
ingredients 3 C 1 T
Timely

• Correct
• good quality data
• Complete
• submission by all (most) reporting
  facilities
• Consistent
• data within normal ranges
• reflects community shifts
• clear definitions

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Presenting information

• What information is presented?
• Why is information presented?
• How is information presented?

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What information is presented?

• Analysed data (mainly)
• Collated data (sometimes)
• Raw data (rarely) 

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Why is information presented?

• To promote understanding and facilitate
  interpretation
• Appropriate interpretations
• what linkages are possible? (correct, logical,
  sensible)
• may answer important questions
• may result in action
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•  Possible interpretations
• are context dependent (population, health,
  service status)
• depend on data quality
• should depart from data definitions

 
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Why is information presented?
To share knowledge? with whom? To provide
feedback? to whom?
 
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How is information presented?

• Three ways of presenting data
• Tabular frequency distribution table
• Graphs Histogram, Line diagrams, Scatter plot,
  Bar chart, Pie chart
• Numerical
• ? Measures of Typicality or Center mode, median,
  mean
• ? Measures of Variability (or Spread) range,
  variance, SD
• ? Measures of Shape skewness, kurtosis
• ? Proportions, rates, ratios

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Types of data
They determine the most appropriate tool for
presenting data.
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Numerical Data

• Continuous they are measurable
• Examples
• Age of patients in years or months
• Weight of newborn in grams
• Discrete they are counted (possible values are
  distinct or separate)
• Examples
• The size of a family expressed as the number of
  children
• The number of days since the begining of a disease

units of measurement
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Non-numerical Data

• They are the qualitative description of
  categories of a characteristic.
• Examples
• The gender of a patient is recorded as male or
  female
• The list of diagnoses in a health center

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ExerciseMark with ? in the blank spaces
 
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BEDS
an example of how a single data element may
provide different types of data.

• Number of beds
• Type of bed
• Height of the bed(from mattress to floor)

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Tables saying it with figures
Table No.
Source Comments Date___/___/___
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Tables

• Beware information overload
• easy to produce difficult to use
• Ideally should contain
• Few rows
• One category
• Uses
• assess quality
• trends over time
• make comparisons
• pick up outliers, gaps

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Tables
Table 1 Number of children per family in Maputo,
2005
Source Statistics Planning Directorate, 2005
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GRAPHS talking with pictures (a visual
representation of data)

• Advantages
• Information is instantly conveyed
• Data are presented clearly and simply
• Can expose relationships and patterns
• Detect trends over time
• Can be used to emphasise information

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Graph Elements
Title descriptive clinic name, what is graphed
and the time period Y axis must ALWAYS be
labeled Y axis label X axis label if
appropriate Key or legend used if more than
one element graphed
Y
X
Source Notes
Scale be appropriate
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Golden rules for graphs

• Never put too much information in the graph. KEEP
  IT SIMPLE.
• Never mix different activities stick to one
  group of people or diseases or services.
• Label your graph always have a clear heading,
  easily read labels on the axes, and a legend
  which explains each of the lines or bars.
• Select scales that fit the entire graph on both
  axes.
• Where possible, draw a target line or reference
  point to show where you are aiming at.

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Types of graphs

• They follow the types of data available

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Type of graphs

• Continuous data
• histograms
• line Graphs
• scatter Graphs
• Discrete Data
• bar graphs
• pie charts

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Graphs for sets of continuous data

• histograms
• line graphs
• cumulative line graphs

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Line graph
Graph 2 PHC headcount under 5 years old, Manyara
Clinic, 2001

• accurate, can show minute changes in the
  relationships between 2 major variables
• displays trends over time
• can be useful if more than one data item is used

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Bar graph versus Line graph
which one is best?
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Line graph, with 2 dependent variables
The larger the font, less detail will be shown in
the axes
Remember to remove the silly gray background to
improve contrast!
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Line graph, for cumulative coverage
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Line graph, for cumulative coverage

• Simple and effective monitoring tool
• Used when targets are set for a year i.e.
  immunization, antenatal coverage, etc.
• Each month, data is graphed individually and
  also added to the previous month
• A target is set, a target line is drawn and
  progress is monitored with respect to the
  target line

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Graphs for sets of discrete data

• pie charts
• bar graphs

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Bar graph, simple

• displays data over time or can compare 2 or more
  different facilities / districts / regions / years

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Bar graph, stacked

• has the advantages of a circle graph it
  displays the quantities, but it also shows the
  relative proportions of the categories to each
  other and to the whole.

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Pie chart or circle graph

• best type of graph for showing the relative
  proportions of different categories to each other
  and to the whole
• can be used when exact quantities are less
  important than the relative sizes of the parts

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Common faults with graphs

• No title
• No labels for the variables
• No units of measurement (or incorrect units!)
• No scale markings (or just too many!)
• Inappropriate scale choice data points should
  be evenly represented
• Incorrect choice of independent (x-axis) and
  dependent (y-axis) variables
• No legends when needed

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Graphs- population pyramids

• they may highlight the differences in age
  distribution between males and females as well as
  proportional age categories

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The Facility Map
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GRAPHS YOU SHOULD NOT BUILD!
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gone fishing
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