7 Steps to Turning Data into Stories
If you want to write a great research report, do not write about the data, and do not write about the research itself. Write about what the data prove, because that is what your clients and managers really care about.
Versta Research has just published its How-To Guide on Turning Data into Stories. It outlines the steps we take every time we write a report, including:
- Reviewing the questions that need to be answered
- Assessing how the data are calculated
- Laying out simple data points
- Organizing the data thematically
- Putting the data into statements as bullet points
- Summarizing the statements in headlines
- Revising and strengthening the words
This guide reflects what we have learned from many years of teaching in the academic world, publishing in professional journals, helping PR teams write news articles with statistics, and of course doing market research for corporate clients.
In a previous whitepaper, we described why turning data into stories is important and how it helps improve research. In this edition we offer a nuts-and-bolts description of how to do it. Turning data into stories is simply about translating statistics and data into meaningful statements about what people think, feel and do in the world.
Struggling to communicate what your research means and why it matters? Wish there were an easier way to turn all those vendor-supplied charts and tables brimming with data into something your management will listen to and get excited about? Our white papers can help. We can help. Feel free to give us a call.
—Joe Hopper, Ph.D.
