When a linguistic study is carried out the investigator will be faced with the prospect of understanding, and then explaining to others, the meaning of the data which have been collected. An essential first step in this process is to look for ways of summarising the results which bring out their most obvious features. Indeed if this is done imaginatively and the trends in the data are clear enough, there may be no need for sophisticated analysis. In this chapter we describe the types of table and diagram most commonly employed for data summary.

Let us begin by looking at typical examples of the kind of data which might be collected in language studies. We will consider how, by means of tables, diagrams and a few simple calculations, the data may be summarised so that their important features can be displayed concisely. The procedure is analogous to writing a precis of an article or essay and has similar attractions and drawbacks. The aim is to reduce detail to a minimum while retaining sufficient information to communicate the essential characteristics of the original. Remember always that the use of data ought to enrich and elucidate the linguistic argument, and this can often be done quite well by means of a simple table or diagram.

Categorical data

It quite commonly arises that we wish to classify a group of people or responses or linguistic elements, putting each unit into one of a set of mutually exclusive classes.