data intended for human consumption not machine consumption

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1、CHAPTER3DataIntendedforHumanConsumption,NotMachineConsumptionPaulMurrellThischapterdescribesissuesthatcanarisewhenadatasethasbeenprovidedinaformatthatisdesignedmainlyforconsumptionbyhumaneyeballs.Dataistypicallyprovidedthiswayinordertoallowahumantoextractaparticularmessagefromthedata.Thep

2、roblemisthatweinevitablyendupwantingtodomorewiththedata,whichmeansworkingwiththedatausingsoftware,whichmeansexplainingtheformatofthedatatothesoftware,whichinturnmeansthatweendupwishingthatthedatawereformattedforconsumptionbyacomputer,nothumaneyeballs.TheDataThemainhighschoolqualificationi

3、nNewZealandiscalledNCEA(NationalCertificateofEducationalAchievement).AtypicalstudentwillattempttogainNCEALevel1inYear11(theireleventhyearofformaleducation),NCEALevel2inYear12,andLevel3inYear13.However,itisalsopossibleforstudentstoattemptNCEAlevelsinearlieryearsortogainanNCEAlevelinalatery

4、eariftheyfailatthefirstattempt.Thisleadstostatisticsonthenumber(orpercentage)ofstudentswhohaveattainedeachlevelofNCEAbytheendofeachyearofformaleducation(seeExample3-1).Example3-1.NumberofstudentsgainingNCEAin2010bylevelandyearYear11Year12Year13NCEA(Level1)410724662940088NCEA(Level2)105037

5、51338209NCEA(Level3)914512468831TheProblem:DataFormattedforHumanConsumptionTablesofNCEAresultscanbeobtainedintheformofExcelspreadsheets,withavarietyoffiltersandbreakdownsavailable.1Figure3-1showsanexample.Inthiscase,thedataisforboys-onlyschoolsand,foreachcombinationofyearandNCEAlevel,ther

6、eareseparatecountsformaleandfemalestudents.Figure3-1.ThenumberofstudentsachievingNCEAatboys-onlyschoolsin2010ThisdataisinaMicrosoftOfficeExcel97-2003Worksheetformat,whichisunfortunatebecausethatrequiresspecialsoftwaretoopenthefile,ideallyMicrosoftExcelsoftware.However,duetotheprevalenceof

7、MicrosoftExcelandExcelspreadsheets,manyothersoftwaretoolshavebeendevelopedtoworkwiththissortoffile,sowewillnotfocusonthatparticularproblemhere.Theissuethatwewishtohighlightinsteadisthelayoutofthedatawithinthespread‐sheet.TheArrangementofDataAhumanobservercaninterpre