Post 8: Tables and Graphs

I will be using both a graph and a table in my final project. However, I will only be discussing the graph that I created as the table will be self-generated from a program I used to run my analyses.

I did not have any difficulties organizing my data (which I thought I would because there was so much of it). My data collection was very organized so inputting it into Jamovi (the software I am using) to run my analyses was very easy. I think the most time-consuming thing was converting minutes and seconds all to seconds because Jamovi was not compatible with time (i.e., 3 minutes : 45 seconds). In this program, I was able to generate separate means for both males and females for both predictions, (so a total of four means). From here, I was able to transfer it to Excel where I was able to create a double bar graph for both time spent foraging and time spent on the periphery of the group.

Two difficulties that I did have when finishing up my graph was trying to figure out how to make the bars different “textures” as recommended in the outline, to help decipher between bars if printed, since colours can look very similar if printed in black and grey (Excel has always been my enemy). Second, I struggled a little bit in creating the graph description. I didn’t want to repeat anything that would be mentioned in the actual text but also didn’t want to miss any important points. This is one area I will look forward to for feedback.

In the end, my first bar graph depicted the mean time spent foraging for males vs. females and my second bar graph depicted the mean time spent on the periphery of the group for males vs. females.

The outcomes were both as expected, supporting both hypotheses. However, I did not expect the data to differ as significantly as it did, which was made very apparent in the visual graph (and analyses).

One new question that came up after creating a visualization for my data was whether or not the differences between sexes would persist throughout the year (i.e. pre-mating/courtship vs. Mating/courtship). I think it would be very interesting to see how these behaviours change throughout the season as their natural behaviours also change.

As I now continue with my final project, I will likely have to reach out to Professor Reudink for feedback/opinions on which type of table I should use to summarize some of my data and not have my actual report clustered with results. But I am still playing around with some of these.