Best practices for tables
Although data visualization has become all the rage, there is a still a place at the table for tables (sorry - bad pun - couldn’t resist). Tables remain a concise way to present a sizable amount of quantitative data.
I encourage you to strive for your tables to meet this standard: “A properly designed and constructed table should be able to stand independently, without requiring undue reference to the text.”1
I encourage you to review the section on tables in the APA Style Guide.
- What goes on the far left column?
- How do I format the main column headings?
- How do I report p-values?
- How do I report my data?
- How do I align things?
This article from Miller et al. (2020) illustrates how to present a table that reports the results of a series of chi-square tests of the differences between two groups (pre-implementation and post-implementation) on categorical outcomes.
Notice that the authors showed the independent variable (intervention group) as columns which enables us as readers to compare outcomes by reading left to right.