Tables, figures, and dashboards: Choosing between them

It’s often surprising to me how little time is spent communicating data effectively. I know why, and I love this quote from the statistician Andrew Gelman:

“Anyone can run a regression or an ANOVA! Regression and ANOVA are easy. Graphics are hard.”

As I’ve written about, all good analyses start and end with visualizations. It can be frustrating when the time and effort spent in doing data analysis goes wasted when results are not presented clearly, so it’s important not to skimp on this step.

One of the most important steps in communicating data is the choice of whether to use a table, figure, or data dashboard. This post describes some examples of each, using stumpage data in Maine as an example.

When to use tables

It is best to use tables under three scenarios:

To show precise numbers or text. As an example, financial analyses across large acreages depend on precise values for prices. An analysts needs to know that to price of spruce/fir sawlogs are $143 per thousand board feet, not “about $150 per thousand”.
To compare numbers. For example, a table might show that the price of spruce/fir sawlogs is $143 per MBF, whereas eastern white pine sawlogs are $229 per MBF.
To present different kinds of information with different units of measure. For example, a table might show that the price of spruce/fir sawlogs is $143 per MBF, whereas spruce/fir pulpwood is $5 per ton.

Here’s a simple table showing eastern white pine stumpage prices in Maine over the last 20+ years, using data compile from Maine Forest Service reports:

Average stumpage prices (real) for spruce/fir in Maine, 2000-2023
Year	Sawtimber units	Sawtimber price (USD)	Pulpwood units	Pulpwood price (USD)
2000	Mbf	130	Cord	21
2001	Mbf	114	Cord	20
2002	Mbf	113	Cord	18
2003	Mbf	113	Cord	16
2004	Mbf	129	Ton	10
2005	Mbf	161	Ton	14
2006	Mbf	140	Ton	11
2007	Mbf	131	Ton	12
2008	Mbf	134	Ton	12
2009	Mbf	123	Ton	13
2010	Mbf	105	Ton	11
2011	Mbf	141	Ton	13
2012	Mbf	116	Ton	13
2013	Mbf	114	Ton	13
2014	Mbf	206	Ton	12
2015	Mbf	205	Ton	12
2016	Mbf	109	Ton	7
2017	Mbf	122	Ton	5
2018	Mbf	180	Ton	6
2019	Mbf	128	Ton	5
2020	Mbf	118	Ton	6
2021	Mbf	148	Ton	4
2022	Mbf	174	Ton	4
2023	Mbf	143	Ton	5

When to use figures

Figures are best used under two scenarios:

To display trends or relationships between different values through time. As an example, figures can be used to show how the price of spruce/fir pulpwood has changed over the last 20 years, or how spruce/fir compares through time with other species.
To illustrate trends when the raw values are less important.

Here’s a figure showing eastern white pine stumpage prices in Maine over the last 20+ years,

When to use data dashboards

Tables and figures are only static representations of data. Interactive data visualizations are becoming much more common to showcase forestry data. Interactive data visualizations are best used with data sets that contain a large number of observations and numerous variables.

We chose to use a data dashboard when we developed the Maine Stumpage Dashboard, an interactive dashboard that contains 20+ years of stumpage data from Maine. Not only are there multiple years of data, but also several product classes, species, units of measuring wood volume, and geographic regions of interest (e.g., counties). The dashboard will allow you to query a number of variables and allows one to look at additional price indexes, such as real or nominal prices, and average, minimum, and maximum prices:

Screen capture of the Maine Stumpage Dashboard.

Conclusions

Having high-quality visualizations of your analysis can lend credibility to your work. Devote time to learning good data visualization skills and practice them often to add more tools to your analytics toolbox.

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By Matt Russell. Sign up for our monthly LinkedIn Newsletter for news, comments, and insights for professionals that work with forests and data