Statistical Reports

Dialogue 1

A: Sometimes these statistical reports don’t even seem like their written in English! Take this sentence for example, "In the sample group consisting of 500 respondents, two out of every three households interviewed fell below the median level, while control group yielded an average of 62% infiltration." What are they talking about?

B: It’s not as confusing as you think. The sample group is made up of the people you are studying, they are the ones who have filled out the surveys and handed in the rough data. The control group is a standard group that you can compare against. Average means the level that most people are at. Infiltration is just whether or not they have heard of our product.

A: So what about this sentence, "Nearly one third of respondents ranked in the 25th percentile nationwide, while less than 2% ranked in the top 5 percentile"?

B: You’re getting bogged down with the words. Think of it this way....respondents are the people who responded to your survey. So 1/3 of the people are considered top 25% on a national standard. In this same group of people, fewer than 2% ranked in the top 5% nationally. Does that make more sense to you now?

A: I guess so... Too many numbers...Too many words....

Dialogue 2

A: I’d like to go over the statistical report with you, if that’s alright....

B: No problem. Take a look. Here’s the first page.

A: According to this report, 30%, of our viewers have a median income of more than 40K annually. Is that accurate?

B: Yes, if you look at the pie chart here, you’ll see that 30% are in the above 40K category, 20% are between 35 and 40K, and 50% fall below 35K.