Audit Commission

Skip to content Go to accessibility page
Find

Main navigation

Recent updates

...over time
News article
23 April 2009
...using other variables
News article
23 April 2009
...using averages
News article
22 April 2009
...using quartiles
News article
22 April 2009
...using benchmarking and ranking
News article
22 April 2009

Events calendar

14 March 2010
Mo
Tu
We
Th
Fr
15
16
17
18
19
22
23
24
25
26
29
30
31
1
2
5
6
7
8
9
12
13
14
15
16

Key

Event
Document
Document and event

Comparing data

Once you've got a hang of summarising the data you need to think about using the lessons in a practical way to compare data, make judgements - and make the most of the numbers.

There are five key ways to compare your data:

  1. Using averages
  2. Using quartiles
  3. Using benchmarking and ranking
  4. Looking over time
  5. Using other variables

Essential facts about comparing data

  1. Using averages is the easiest way to compare.
  2. If you want a more detailed comparison using quartiles might be the answer.
  3. Comparing against a group of authorities with similar characteristics can be useful - this is benchmarking.
  4. Looking over time or direction of travel is also crucial. But whilst an authority maybe improving absolutely - it may not be improving relative to others.
  5. Sometime variables are related. Plotting variables on a scatter plot and calculating the correlation coefficient are useful ways to check whether there is a relationship.
  6. But a strong correlation only shows that there is a relationship - it doesn't explain it.
 
 
...using averages
22 April 2009
The most obvious and easiest way of comparing how well an authority is performing is to compare to the average.
...using quartiles
22 April 2009
If comparing against the average isn't giving you the detail you need you might want to use quartiles.
...using benchmarking and ranking
22 April 2009
It can be useful to compare or benchmark an authority against other authorities with similar characteristics.
...over time
23 April 2009
It is always interesting to know if things are getting better or worse over time. This Direction of Travel is an important requirement of the new CPA methodology.
...using other variables
23 April 2009
You might want to compare one set of data with another set to see if there is a relationship between two variables. Scatter plots and correlation are important here.