3.1 Table

The statistical table is the most traditional way of organising numeric observation data into an easily digestible form. At its best, a table conveys the relevant information to the reader quickly and succinctly, at once highlighting the essence of the phenomenon concerned.

The first element in the statistical table is its title or caption. A good table caption identifies 1) the population covered, 2) the variable described in the table and how it has been classified, 3) the time point or period of the observations and 4) the unit of measurement. If the table includes data based on different units of measurement, they can be omitted from the title.

An example of a good table caption might be as follows:
Amount of daily benefit for Finnish unemployed job seekers by age group in September 2006, euros.

Next, it is good to turn to the row and column headings. These will identify the names of the variables measured and their categories. Often you will find more than one variable in a table that are cross-tabulated. The following example shows how the height and gender of school pupils are cross-tabulated:

This method will reveal interdependencies within the observation material, for example, the impacts of gender and age on some third dimension. This example shows that, on average, boys are taller than girls.

The actual observations are indicated in data cellsthat are organised according to the row and column headings. If there are percentages or sums in the table, it is necessary to check whether they have been computed along the rows or along the columns. Where percentage distributions are compared, it is also necessary to look at the number of cases in the original distributions: this is because the smaller the base for percentage calculations(i.e. the base figure from which the percentages described have been extracted), the more random variation there will be in the percentages. You should find the base figure next to the sum total of percentages (100%).

Tables often indicate the total number of observations at a rather high degree of accuracy. It is good to round these figures sufficiently and to try and see the bigger picture. In most cases it is enough to look at the three first digits. Sample surveys in particular rarely produce results that are meaningful beyond this level of accuracy.

Footnotesprovide any necessary additional information related to an individual data cell, row or column. For example, a footnote might be used to indicate that the data item is for a different year than indicated in the caption, that the data item differs conceptually from the information given in the caption, or that it differs from other data items in qualitative terms (e.g. that it has been obtained from a different source). Where necessary the source used in compiling the table can also be indicated at the bottom of the table.

Symbols used in tables: