Descriptive vs. analytical presentations

Regardless of the type of presentation you are used to from your academic program, a key question for you to consider any time you prepare a presentation is how you can prepare a relevant presentation for a particular audience. For academia, the goal can be to move from a purely descriptive presentation to an analytical presentation that shows that you mastered the content. Table 2 shows the differences between descriptive and analytical presentation; decide to what extent your previous presentations were analytical in nature.

Table 2. Descriptive vs. analytical presentations

Descriptive presentations	Analytical presentations
States what happened	Identifies the significance of what happened
Gives the story so far	Weights one piece of information against another
Says how to do something	Argues a case according to evidence
Explains what a theory says	Shows why a theory is relevant or suitable in this situation
Explains how something works	Indicates why something will work, or work best
Says when something occurred	Identifies why the timing is of importance
States options	Gives reasons for selecting each option
Lists issues in a random order	Structures information in order of importance
States links between items	Show the relevance between pieces of information
Gives information	Draws conclusions

Source: Firth & Martin, 2015: 63

An analytical presentation can be considered the “golden standard” for academic presentation. Let's now focus on the steps it takes to prepare your content for a presentation (Figure 1).

Figure 1. The six steps of critical selection of information

A. Contextualize the information

Upon completing your theoretical or empirical study, it is important to go back to your theoretical framework (see section How do we find “gaps" in our knowledge), review what you have written and reflect on it. Evaluate your research findings by asking questions such as:

Is there any information missing from my theoretical background? (Did I successfully fill the knowledge gap identified at the beginning of my study?)
What (new) issues do my data raise?
What is already known about these (new) issues?
Are my data/results similar to other studies? (In what way are they similar? Did I find something different from what I expected?)

EXERCISE 3

Select the results you obtained from one of your previous empirical studies conducted for one of your classes. If you have no such study, select any published article related to your interests. Read the article and try to answer the questions listed above. Do any of the questions make you reconsider your previous assumptions about the topic?

B. Check for any bias and assumptions

You likely have a level of mastery in performing different forms of analysis and reporting results according to the methodology you employed (see various modules in the "Conducting research" section of the Toolbox). After you contextualized the data you collected, what you need to do next is to check whether your interpretation includes any unintentionally bias or assumptions that can lead to false or misleading conclusions. One way of checking this is by asking a colleague’s opinion about what you have written. Your colleague will be able to look at your data and interpretation from a different perspective). Another way is to imagine you are presenting your findings in front of an audience, and think about questions you might be asked that challenge your interpretation. This mental exercise is also a good way to prepare yourself for an oral presentation.

It is essential for young researchers to constantly review their material and be open to constructive criticism. Remember that your goal when presenting your results is to provide a substantiated argument by using evidence from your research.

Exercise 4

Share your article with a colleague and ask them to highlight what the main 3 ideas are from your writing. Then, discuss it with your colleague, especially if their interpretation of your article is different than you intended (in which case there might be some bias).

C. Select and justify the inclusion of information

For any presentation, you have limited time and must decide on what to include (oral presentation usually last for 10-15 minutes). There is usually other limitations, too, such as space (presentation outputs might have to comply to a template and a word limit). Therefore, you must be able to identify what is important and should be shared with others. Including too much information will make your presentation difficult to follow and the audience might get lost in all the unnecessary details of your research; on contrary, including too little information will make your arguments weak and unsupported by evidence.

Depending on the type of the study you want to present, there are several ways you can decide on what to include. In a quantitative study, findings are usually listed according to the hypothesis and report whether or not your results support them, accompanied by their statistical significance. Results may be highlighted in tables and graphs. In a qualitative study, results may be organized according to the research questions or by themes. For each theme, provide relevant data, then clarify and support your statements with direct quotations or demographic information about the participants. Data visualization plays an important role in qualitative research as well.

You can choose to support your statements with

tables, lists and figures for summary findings, or participants characteristics;
participants voices – relevant quotes from participants’ interviews;
graphs, figures such as family tree, word cloud, for highlighting specific themes or relationships among themes;
pictures of the location, specific items,
and field notes, observations. You need to be coherent and focused when reporting findings and not get lost into additional details (these details will be explained in the discussion section following your presentation if the audience asks for more clarity).

Remember that in any research approach (quantitative/qualitative/mixed), data visualization is the key component for communicating research findings. Data visualization allows to synthetize large amount of data concisely (Kelleher & Wagener, 2011), thus helping the reader to navigate through your research process and gain deeper insight.

Data visualization refers to both tables (rows and columns) and figures (graphs, charts, diagrams, photos, etc.). Selecting the right visual is an important task.

Table 3. Role of data visualization in an academic paper

Type of visual		Description and purpose
Tables		Place detailed data/information in categories formatted into rows and columns for comparison; use when exact figures are important. Label column headings (box heads) and/or rows (stubs).
Graphs	Bar chart	Compare and contrast two or more subjects at the same point in time, or compare change over time.
	Column chart	Reveal change in a subject at regular intervals of time.
	Line chart	Show the degree and direction of change relative to two variables; compare items over time, show frequency or distribution, or show correlations.
Charts	Pie chart	Display the number and relative size of the divisions of a subject; shows relation of parts to a whole (parts must sum to 100% to make sense).
	Organizational chart	Map the divisions and levels of responsibility or hierarchy within an organization.
	Flow chart	Show the sequence of steps in a process or procedure.
	Gantt chart	Indicates timelines for multi-stepped projects, especially used in proposals and progress reports.
Illustrations	Diagram	Identify the parts of a subject and their spatial or functional relationship; emphasize detail or show dimensions.
	Photo	Show what a subject looks like in realistic detail or show it being used.
	Animation	Simulate a process, operation, or incident.
	Film clip	Depict a process, operation, or incident in realistic detail.

Source: https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/technicalwriting/chapter/figurestables/#f...

Now try to solve the crossword below.

Exercise 5

Select one of your previous papers (e.g., submitted for another class or a section from your dissertation). Create a visual output summarizing what you consider as the most important information. Give you visual output to one colleague and ask them to write a short paragraph (max. 100 words) explaining the content. Was the summary accurate? What information was missing? How can the visual output be improved?

D. Identify your main line of reasoning and ensure that you have strong supporting evidence

In order to offer a strong argument in your presentation, it is necessary to build up reasons which logically and coherently lead to your arguments (that may be listed as conclusions and recommendations). The more reasons you give for your claims the better, and the reasons need to be grounded in evidence from your data, and not on assumptions or weak analogies.

In general, there might be two scenarios:

Your results confirmed by or correspond to previous findings, and you need to explain how this adds to the existing knowledge;
Your conclusions did not fully support the findings from previous studies, in which case you need to think and provide an alternative explanation. Try to reason by writing a few paragraphs or presenting a few ideas that you want the audience to remember (Figure 2).

Figure 2. General structure of reasoning process

Source: https://plos.org/resource/how-to-write-conclusions/

Exercise 6

Select one article or book you have recently read, or alternatively you can choose a movie or an event (it should be something that all the students are familiar with) and write three sets of paragraph-long summaries. Then, take a look at the written summaries and decide what the features of a successful summary are.

E. Explore weaknesses

Think about possible criticisms that people from the audience may raise, and prepare to defend your claims. You might want to signal to the audience that you recognize the limitations of your study, and add some ways of addressing these weaknesses in future studies.

F. Limits of conclusion

If your conclusions are not certain but likely, use language such as “might suggest”, “indicates” or “increases the likelihood”, rather than “proves”, “shows” or “definitely”.

Exercise 7

Read the following extracts and each entry with the main function.