The reporting and graphing of ecological data and statistical results often leave a lot to
be desired. One reason can be a misunderstanding or confusion of some basic concepts
in statistics such as standard deviation, standard error, margin of error, confidence
interval, skewness of distribution and correlation. The implications of having small
sample sizes are also often glossed over. In several situations, statistics and associated
graphical representations are made for comparing groups of samples, ...
The reporting and graphing of ecological data and statistical results often leave a lot to
be desired. One reason can be a misunderstanding or confusion of some basic concepts
in statistics such as standard deviation, standard error, margin of error, confidence
interval, skewness of distribution and correlation. The implications of having small
sample sizes are also often glossed over. In several situations, statistics and associated
graphical representations are made for comparing groups of samples, where the issues
become even more complex. Here, I aim to clarify these basic concepts and ways of
reporting and visualizing summaries of variables in ecological research, both for single
variables as well as pairs of variables. Specific recommendations about better practice
are made, for example describing precision of the mean by the margin of error and
bootstrapping to obtain confidence intervals. The role of the logarithmic transformation
of positive data is described, as well as its implications in the reporting of results in
multiplicative rather than additive form. Comments are also made about ordination
plots derived from multivariate analyses, such as principal component analysis and
canonical correspondence analysis, with suggested improvements. Some data sets from
this Kongsfjord special issue are amongst those used as examples.
+