![]() Since numbers do not speak for themselves, analytic tables require careful planning and oblige the table maker to steer a course between art and artifice. In analytic tables, on the other hand, the data are organized to support some assertion of the author of the research report. As a last, and obviously least satisfactory, resort, a statement that basic data may be obtained from the author should be appended to a research report. Sometimes basic data can be deposited with the American Documentation Institute or a similar organization to facilitate public access. In a research report, basic data can sometimes be presented in appendix tables, and sometimes they can be presented graphically. It will be sufficient here to stress the importance of showing raw data whenever this is possible. The reader can find full treatment of these topics in a number of standard sources (see, for example, U.S. Here principles of accuracy, completeness, and editorial style are important. Raw data tables, for example, in census reports, serve a library function: they arrange and explain the figures in such a way as to make it easier for the user to find what he wants. It is useful to distinguish between raw data tables and analytic tables, although the line between them is somewhat arbitrary. The principles of table making involve matters of taste, convention, typography, aesthetics, and honesty, in addition to the principles of quantification. Table making is an art (as is table reading), and one should never forget that a table is a form of communication-a way to convey information to a reader. Statistical tables are the most common form of documentation used by the quantitative social scientist, and he should cultivate skill in table construction just as the historian learns to evaluate and cite documents or the geographer learns cartography.
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