Optimizing the Display and Interpretation of Data

Robert Warner

• Publisher: Elsevier
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9780128053416
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Databases
• Index: Computer Science

"What information do these data reveal?" "Is the information correct?" "How can I make the best use of the information?" The widespread use of computers and our reliance on the data generated by them have made these questions increasingly common and important. Computerized data may be in either digital or analog form and may be relevant to a wide range of applications that include medical monitoring and diagnosis, scientific research, engineering, quality control, seismology, meteorology, political and economic analysis and business and personal financial applications. The sources of the data may be databases that have been developed for specific purposes or may be of more general interest and include those that are accessible on the Internet.

In addition, the data may represent either single or multiple parameters. Examining data in its initial form is often very laborious and also makes it possible to "miss the forest for the trees" by failing to notice patterns in the data that are not readily apparent. To address these problems, this monograph describes several accurate and efficient methods for displaying, reviewing and analyzing digital and analog data. The methods may be used either singly or in various combinations to maximize the value of the data to those for whom it is relevant. None of the methods requires special devices and each can be used on common platforms such as personal computers, tablets and smart phones. Also, each of the methods can be easily employed utilizing widely available off-the-shelf software.

Using the methods does not require special expertise in computer science or technology, graphical design or statistical analysis. The usefulness and accuracy of all the described methods of data display, review and interpretation have been confirmed in multiple carefully performed studies using independent, objective endpoints. These studies and their results are described in the monograph. Because of their ease of use, accuracy and efficiency, the methods for displaying, reviewing and analyzing data described in this monograph can be highly useful to all who must work with computerized information and make decisions based upon it.

• The reader will learn methods for easily increasing the speed and accuracy of reviewing data that are relevant to many diverse fields of endeavor
• This will reduce the drudgery associated with reviewing the data and simultaneously improve the reliability of the interpretations that result from the review
• This increased efficiency of review will make it easier to provide "full disclosure" of the data to all those responsible for making decisions based on any actionable information that might be contained in the data

Chapter 1

The Scope and Importance of Computerized Data

Abstract

Many people currently have access to a great deal of computerized data that can serve many purposes. However, to make optimal use of this information, it is important to have methods of reviewing and analyzing this information in comprehensive, accurate, and efficient ways. An effective strategy for doing this is to use familiar computer programs to generate analog displays of available data that reveal useful and easily recognizable patterns in the information. Once relevant patterns in the information are recognized, the same digital data that were used to produce the analog displays can be used to study those patterns with great precision. In these ways, we can benefit greatly from what the availability of computerized data has to offer.

Keywords

data availability

analog and digital conversion

At the present time, computers generate enormous amounts of electronic data that are intended to serve the diverse needs of many people throughout the world. The availability of personal computers, in conjunction with access to the Internet, has helped many to use to these data to achieve their professional, commercial, and individual goals. Since computerized information can serve many important purposes, it is crucial that there be practical methods for using it most effectively. Features of such methods certainly include the need to interpret the data correctly. Also, the sheer volume of data available to us has also made it important that these methods enable us to review and analyze the data efficiently. Such reviews and analyses must be comprehensive. In other words, the speed with which one can review and analyze data should not come at the price of ignoring or discarding information that may be important.

Also, to be of greatest general use, our methods of displaying, reviewing, and analyzing data should be flexible and easy to employ. For example, a broadly applicable method that uses commonly available software is likely to be useful to more people than a method that requires the skills of computer programmers to accomplish only a highly specific task.

Optimal methods for displaying, reviewing, and interpreting computerized data can benefit people of many different interests and occupations. Such individuals include nurses, physicians, individual investors, businessmen, financial analysts, social scientists, engineers, economists, geologists, actuaries, political pollsters, and meteorologists.

The output of computers typically consists of digital data, i.e., numbers. Surely, there are plenty of different ways of analyzing numerical data. However, many of these methods, such as various types of mathematical modeling, generally require considerable training and skill in mathematics and statistics. In contrast, more intuitive ways of handling numerical data are available. For example, it is often advantageous to display the digital data not as numbers per se, but rather as pictorial images. We do this whenever we use the numbers to produce graphs of the data. In other words, we can often benefit from transforming the information provided by the computer from digital to analog form. For example, individual investors and investment professionals often employ “technical analysis” to try to predict whether the prices of stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and exchange-traded funds will rise or fall in the future. Technical analysis consists of studying previous patterns of variation in the prices of these securities. The investors and professional analysts hope that certain patterns of price fluctuation shown by these “...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Preface
• Author Biography
• Chapter 1: The Scope and Importance of Computerized Data
• Chapter 2: Using Z Scores for the Display and Analysis of Data
• Chapter 3: Moving Averages for Identifying Trends and Changes in the Data
• Chapter 4: Using Composite Analog Displays to Summarize and Interpret Data
• Chapter 5: The Stacked Frame Display for the Rapid Review and Analysis of Data
• Chapter 6: Effective Methods for Analyzing Digital Data
• Chapter 7: The Importance of Conditional Probability