ABSTRACT

This chapter focuses on the use of graphic display for communication of information to those in, or who wish to join, the community of second language (L2) researchers. Graphics are frequently used in L2 research reporting. When presenting quantitative data visually, it is important for authors not to simply rely on the default graphics that are available through a computer program. Wainer provides four rules for table construction: round heavily, order rows and columns in a sensible way, include summary rows and columns when important, and add spacing to aid perception. He argues that people cannot process and justify more than two digits easily, because of standard errors, and that most people almost never care about more than two digits. SPSS basic graphs can be edited easily to improve their appearance and facilitate interpretation. Bar charts are used for discrete/categorical variables along the x-axis, while histograms are used for continuous variables, sometimes broken into categories.