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Reporting Scientific Data

"A man is a teller of tales, he lives surrounded by his stories and the stories of others, he sees everything that happens to him through them; and he tries to live his life as if he were recounting it."
Jean-Paul Sartre

Reporting scientific work can be very exacting. To put over a complex argument with clarity and brevity calls for good communication skills. It can also be great fun and provide immense satisfaction, particularly if presented to an interested audience in an exotic location! However the scrutiny of peers can also be particularly cruel, exposing weaknesses in argument and design and at times proving totally demoralising. A useful approach is to practice a presentation to trusted, local colleagues at least twice. Any criticisms or suggestions can be incorporated, and it is surprising how much a tale improves on each retelling.

The following paragraphs (taken from - Jones RG, Payne RB. Clinical Investigation and Statistics in Laboratory Medicine. London: ACB Venture Publications, 1997) indicate a tried and tested approach to publishing scientific data.

• Writing Abstracts
• Producing Posters
• Making Oral Presentations
• Home Page for Some Useful Aids to Obtaining Funding 

Writing an abstract

An abstract may well be the first form of publication of data from a research trial as submitting material to conferences is often an initial way of seeking public exposure. A good abstract should describe the research project adequately, include an outline of the data obtained and present clear conclusions. For most conferences, abstracts are scrutinised by a scientific committee who will select appropriate work for either oral or poster presentation. It is important, therefore, that the abstract is attractively and clearly presented, so that under scrutiny it will stand up to the competition.

Abstracts are usually written within a strict word limit or, alternatively, presented in camera-ready form within a well-delimited space. Most conferences reject abstracts which do not contain hard data and are unlikely to accept abstracts which include phrases such as "data will be presented and discussed" without having hard numbers to back up any assertions which are made.

For camera-ready abstracts it is sometimes convenient to include tables of data but it is probably best to avoid graphs since abstracts are often photo-reduced and such graphs appear very small on the printed page. Writing a structured abstract is sometimes helpful, as headings can allow information to be compressed into a small space.

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Producing a poster

Most scientific presentations at conferences are now made in poster format. The main reasons for creating a poster are, firstly to present the work to peers and, secondly to engage in discussions with individuals who may have a common interest and who are likely to provide helpful criticism of the methods and results. This can be useful in the production of the finished paper, as the arguments can be tested on peers in a constructive manner. A poster presentation may well generate new ideas for further research projects or even create collaborative research groupings.

It is important to gain experience in poster production. There is no correct way to create a poster and, indeed, the most appropriate format will depend upon the type of material being presented. There are, however, many mistakes which can be made and the following guidelines will be helpful.

Clear and informative headings are essential. The tendency is for delegates at conferences to browse through the poster section, stopping at posters which catch their eye. Therefore a clear, attractive layout and eye catching informative headings can do much to attract attention. As a guide, the general lettering on a poster should be readable at a distance of 1 metre (18 pt) and headings (36 pt or 24 pt) should be scaled appropriately larger. On the whole, it is better to rely on visual aids such as graphs and tables than on large amounts of detailed text.

A poster should present information in an attractive and easily read form, saving detailed information for an appendix. For example, extensive details of methods are best avoided unless they are pertinent to the main scientific argument.

Major headings for a poster

The physical appearance of a poster can vary from hand-drawn and hand-written material through computer-generated material mounted on backing sheets to elaborately printed, large scale colour output. One sometimes wonders if the costs of such productions can be justified when the material may well be displayed for only an hour or two and looked at in any detail by perhaps less than one hundred individuals. The most valuable part of the exercise, however, is likely to be the thought that goes into designing and creating the poster, selecting the information to present, and structuring it in a way that can be rapidly and easily assimilated. This process can be an important step on the way towards producing a final, definitive publication of research findings.

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Giving an oral presentation

The next step for the poster presentation of scientific material is oral presentation. The format is usually a fifteen minute slot in a rolling scientific programme, perhaps twelve minutes presentation and three minutes questioning. The skill in such a situation is to summarise a large amount of data in a short time whilst maintaining clarity and coherence. With appropriate structuring and attention to the development of the argument, a great deal of information can be presented within the twelve minute period, particularly if audio-visual materials are well designed and developed.

The general structure of such a presentation would be to outline the background and objectives of the research project, to give some background data, to create a context to the work, to indicate the main methodology and present a summary of the results, drawing conclusions appropriately from the data so presented. It is important to pitch the presentation at the correct level for the intended audience, that is, to neither underestimate nor overestimate their background knowledge of the subject, and not to pursue the argument at too superficial or too sophisticated a level.

An essential preparatory step is to give the talk on several occasions to local peers and colleagues before presentation at any public event. This rehearsal and the constructive criticism received from colleagues will do much to improve not only the content but also the style of presentation. By the time the final presentation is made one should be so comfortable with the material as to be able to give the presentation with very little stress or nervousness. Fielding any questions will be a good deal easier, as most of the obvious ones will already have been asked by colleagues. It may be useful to offer the chairperson of the session a question one would like to receive. Chairpersons will often be quite relieved to be given such a question since, if the interest of the audience has not been excited, it will fall to them to open and maintain some discussion. Indeed, many experienced chairpersons will ask presenters what question they would like to be asked in order to ease this situation.

The use of visual aids is a vexed question and competence with projectors both slide and overhead varieties is under-rated and sadly lacking in many scientists. McLuhan may have been scientifically incorrect in his assertion that 'the medium is the massage' but poor presentation greatly devalues a scientific message and does little to enhance the presenters image and standing amongst peers. Attending a course on presentation skills is highly recommended and will have many benefits in related areas such as teaching. It is far better to get over the pain of criticism of presentation styles in the relative anonymity of a seminar room or video studio than in a major plenary session at a national or international conference.

On the day of a presentation it is advisable to arrive early at the venue to check the room and the audio-visual systems in advance. There is little consistency in the layout of control mechanisms and under the stress of the event it is easy to become confused by an array of control buttons on a badly lit lectern. Familiarity with microphones also helps and a sound check may seem like overkill but is worth it if the 15 minutes of exposure is to be fully exploited. When giving a talk it is a disaster if the audio-visual system fails. Thorough rehearsal can help one to be prepared for this eventuality since, if one is familiar with the material, it should be possible to ad lib even without the slides. Recourse to a pen and overhead projector, or even chalk and blackboard, can be very effective and impressive.

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