Data can tell us so many stories – we get to learn from it and make conclusions that we otherwise wouldn’t. The key to getting the most out of data’s capability to tell stories is to share those stories. This is why scientists, business people, sociologists and so on like to show us charts and talk about what they learned.

No matter what kind of data you are dealing with – industry research, public data or proprietary data – the best way to tell its story is to visually represent it.

This is where most misunderstandings happen. People think that they can just throw in a few pie charts into their presentation and that it would make it good. But, the key to getting it right is really just understanding the process.

Why do you need a visual representation?

During any kind of research project, you’re going to collect data. This data will vary depending on what you’re studying, but you will need to create a data management plan no matter what. This is because it’s vital you explain exactly how you will use data at every point during the data life cycle. Here’s ten rules that will make creating your own plan simple.

Rule 1: Understand the research sponsor requirements

The first thing you must do is find out what is needed from you from your research sponsor. Each sponsor will have slightly different needs. “Even if you’ve worked with a sponsor before, it’s always best to check to ensure they haven’t recently changed their requirements”, – says Amber Coburn, an Operation Manager at Bigassignments .

Rule 2: Identify the data to be collected