How do I visualise and interpret data?
Four types of search are available from the Home Page of Health Statistics NSW:
‘Search Options’ or ‘Search By...’ (the latter takes you directly to the same options as ‘Search Options’). These are guided searches that provide a series of drop-down menus where you can select your search term(s) by topic, population and/or location of interest. Once you have added your search term(s), click ‘Search’. The more search terms you specify, the more specific your search will be. Be careful though, if you add too many terms, there may not be any information available.
There are five options available when you search this way. The first four are:
- Health Topics
- Burden of Disease
- Determinants of Health
- Health Inequalities
The fifth option, ‘Location’, works differently and is explained below in question 3 (How do I get data for my area?).
Note that if you move between these ‘Search Options’, the items in the drop-down menus may appear grey, not allowing them to be selected. Just press ‘F5’ or click on ‘Reset’ to clear the search and start again.
View Topics A – Z – provides a direct link to a topic by selecting the first letter of that topic.
Quick Search – provides a list of search results for any keyword. Type in your search term, select from the drop-down menu and click ‘Search’.
Advanced Search – allows you to refine your results from a ‘Quick Search’ by narrowing your search down to a certain topic, population or location. After you have done your ‘Quick Search’, click on ‘Advanced Search’, include any additional search terms and click ‘Search’ again. Alternatively, click directly on ‘Advanced Search’ from the Home Page, enter your search terms and click on ‘Search’.
Note: Each type of search in Health Statistics NSW works differently and may deliver slightly different results. If your first search does not produce the required results, you are encouraged to try other search types. For instance, if you have tried searching via one of the ‘Search Options’ (for example, ‘Health Inequalities’) and have not found what you want, try using ‘View Topics A-Z’ or ‘Quick Search’.
Using more than one search term can improve your search results by narrowing your search down by topic, population or location. You can do this in two ways:
- use the ‘Search Options’ or ‘Search By…’ methods, or
- use an ‘Advanced Search’.
(see question 1 above for explanations of how to use these search methods).
If you are searching via ‘Quick Search’, using more than one search term can result in a broader rather than narrower search. In ‘Quick Search’, using pre-defined search terms (i.e. the ones that appear in the drop-down menu) will improve your search results.
Note: Search results are listed by the degree of relevance to the search term(s) used.
Reports are available for Local Health Districts, Local Government Areas and Divisions of General Practice. There are four ways of finding information for a particular area:
- Use the ‘Search by Location’ and select ‘Search information about one location’ and then select the type of location and the specific area (e.g. ‘Local Health Districts’ then ‘Western Sydney LHD’). The results for all key indicators for this area will appear;
- Type the name of the area into the ‘Quick Search’ as a keyword; after conducting the search you can use an ‘Advanced Search’ to narrow the number of results;
- Use ‘View Topics A-Z’ for the type of area (e.g. ‘Local Health Districts’ and then select the required report from the results);
- Explore different views of an indicator. Many indicators allow you to ‘Change View’ to ‘drill down’ and explore the data at a greater level of detail. Often, this will include reports on the indicator by smaller areas such as Local Health Districts with a trend over time within each area.
Note: Once you are in an ‘indicator view’, i.e. the graph or map of the data for your local area, you can view data for other areas and for NSW as a whole by clicking on the ‘Filter by..’ drop-down menu and selecting the area you wish to view. You can also see a data comparison across all areas at one point in time by clicking on ‘Change View’ and selecting a ‘non-trend’ alternate view of the data.
Whichever search method you use, your search will produce a list of search results that match your search term(s). From your list of search results you can view data for a particular indicator by clicking on either the indicator title (the blue hyperlink) or the ‘View Indicator online’ icon. Note: the icon is not available if you have used the ‘View Topics A-Z’ search method.
You will be taken to an ‘indicator view’, i.e. either a graph or map of the data for that indicator. You will also be able to see the Sources, Notes and Commentary for the indicator. The ‘indicator view’ page has several tabs that allow you to look at the data table, methods, codes, related indicators and associated information or to download files for that indicator. From the ‘default indicator view’ you can also ‘drill down’ to ‘alternate views’ of the data for the indicator by clicking on ‘Change View’. Often an ‘alternate view’ will allow you to filter by another search term such as time period or area of interest.
Note: To avoid losing your list of search results while you browse through several indicators on the list, each time you open an indicator ‘Right click’ on the ‘View Indicator online’ icon (or the indicator title) and select ‘Open in New Window’.
To find maps use ‘Search by Location’, select the ‘Search for information about many locations (including maps)’ option and choose your location type. Results will be returned for all reports for all areas of that type, i.e. comparing all Local Health Districts or all Divisions of General Practice. To select results with maps as their ‘indicator view’ check the ‘Only include maps’ box.
Use the ‘Zoom’ option on your web browser and/or use F11 (the latter hides the toolbars so Health Statistics NSW is maximised - to re-instate the toolbars, click on F11 again).
A Glossary and a list of Abbreviations are available from the ‘Definitions’ tab at the top of the Health Statistics NSW Home Page.
Most ‘indicator views’ (graph or map) includes ‘Sources’, ‘Notes’ and a ‘Commentary’ on the data. ‘Indicator views’ also provide access to tabs containing ‘Methods’, ‘Codes’ and ‘Associated Information’ for that indicator.
The ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ (FAQ) link also provides information about how to interpret the data presented in Health Statistics NSW.
To produce a report on a single indicator:
- From your list of search results, you can download information about an individual indicator as a printable Pdf report by clicking on the ‘Download indicator as a Pdf’ icon. This standard report will include the graph or map, sources, notes, commentary, data table, methods and codes for that indicator.
- Once you are looking at a graph or map for a particular indicator, i.e. the ‘indicator view’, you can get a printable report on that indicator by selecting the ‘Downloads’ tab and then selecting ‘Download Pdf File’ in the ‘Download the indicator content’ section. Every report will download the graph or map and the source but you can choose to download additional information such as the commentary and data table by checking the relevant boxes.
To produce a report on more than one indicator:
- From your list of search results, you can add an indicator to your customised report or ‘My Report’ by clicking on the ‘Add to my report’ (shopping basket) icon.
- From the ‘indicator view’ for a particular indicator, click on the ‘Downloads’ tab, then on ‘Add To My Report’ in the ‘Add indicator content to My Report’ section.
- Each indicator that you add will be saved into the ‘My Report’ tab on the right hand side of the Home Page under the ‘Health Statistics New South Wales’ banner. When you have added all of the indicators you need, click on the ‘My Report’ tab and your list of indicators will appear. You now have the opportunity to customise your report further by moving indicators up or down in the report or by selecting only certain information to appear for each indicator. When you are happy with the order and content of your report, click on ‘Download Pdf’ and a single printable file of your report will be compiled from your selections. This report will also contain a cover, table of contents, page numbers and a date stamp for the day it was downloaded.
Note: if you want to create a Pdf report of key information for a particular geographic area, use ‘Search by Location’, select ‘Search information about one location’, then select the type of location and the specific area (e.g. ‘Local Health Districts’ then ‘Western Sydney LHD’) and click on ‘Search’. The results for all key indicators for this area will appear. To download a Pdf containing data for these key indicators, click on ‘Add all results to My Report’.
Once you are looking at a graph or map for a particular indicator, i.e. the ‘indicator view’, you can download the image for use in other documents by clicking on the ‘Downloads’ tab, selecting the image type you want (from the ‘Download the graph image’ section) and clicking on ‘Download Image File’.
‘Simple’ data tables in spreadsheet format (for alternative graphing) can be downloaded either:
- From your list of search results, by clicking on the ‘Download indicator data in CSV format’ icon, or
- Once you are looking at a graph or map in the ‘indicator view’, by clicking on the ‘Downloads’ tab, selecting ‘Simple data table in spreadsheet format’ from the ‘Download the data’ section and then clicking on ‘Download Data File’. Note: ‘Simple’ data tables in spreadsheet format will only contain the data related to the particular ‘indicator view’ you are viewing at the time. These data are also shown in the ‘Data Table’ tab for that ‘indicator view’.
- Once you have downloaded the data, you can prepare a different type of graph or otherwise modify the presentation of the data using your own spreadsheet or graphics software.
Note: to download ‘simple’ data tables for a particular geographic area use ‘Search by Location’, select ‘Search information about one location’, then select the type of location and the specific area (e.g. ‘Local Health Districts’ then ‘Western Sydney LHD’) and click on ‘Search’. The results for all key indicators for this area will appear. Click on ‘Download Data File’ to create a file containing data for these key indicators.
‘Advanced’ data tables in spreadsheet format (for data analysis) can be downloaded from the ‘Downloads’ tab of the ‘indicator view’ for your indicator of interest. Select ‘Advanced data table in spreadsheet format’ from the ‘Download the data’ section and then click on ‘Download Data File’. This ‘advanced’ data table in spreadsheet format contains not only the data for the indicator being viewed, but also the data for all of the other ‘alternate views’ of indicators in that group. The other indicators in the group can be viewed from the ‘indicator view’ by clicking on ‘Change View’. This will show all of the other ‘alternate views’ of this indicator at a more detailed level, e.g. by age group or Local Health District or over time. The data for all of these other views are included in the ‘advanced’ data table in spreadsheet format.
Send an email to Health.StatisticsNSW@doh.health.nsw.gov.au
The following scenarios demonstrate the different functions of Health Statistics NSW:
| Scenario number, topic and functions demonstrated | Powerpoint Presentation | Notes for Powerpoint | Video Presentation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Population growth
•Searching via ‘Quick Search’ and by ‘Location’ •Viewing maps and the data on which they are based •Looking at different views of an indicator |
Scenario 1 | Scenario 1 | Scenario 1 |
| 2. Data for a particular geographic area
•Searching by ‘Location’ •Viewing graphs and the data on which they are based •Looking at different views of an indicator •Downloading a Pdf report and data file for a particular area |
Scenario 2 | Scenario 2 | Scenario 2 |
| 3. Cardiovascular disease and determinants of CVD
•Searching by ‘Health Topics’, 'Determinants of Health' and 'A-Z' •Viewing graphs and 'drilling down' to trends in a particular area •Creating customised reports |
Scenario 3 | Scenario 3 | Scenario 3 |
| 4. Trends in infectious disease
•Searching via ‘Quick Search’ and ‘Advanced Search’ •Viewing graphs and the data on which they are based •Using the four icons on the search results page to: •View an indicator online •Download a Pdf report •Download simple data in a spreadsheet •Create a customised report |
Scenario 4 | Scenario 4 | Scenario 4 |
| 5. The health of Aboriginal people
•Searching by ‘A-Z’, 'Quick Search', 'Health Inequalities' and 'Burden of Disease' •Viewing graphs and maps and the data on which they are based •'Drilling down' to alternate views of the data •Viewing methods, codes, related indicators and associated and supporting information •Downloading images, data and reports |
Scenario 5 | Scenario 5 | Scenario 5 |
| 6. Trends in smoking among different population sub-groups
•Searching via ‘Quick Search’ •Viewing graphs and the data on which they are based •Exploring all alternate views of an indicator •Downloading Pdf reports, data files, images and associated information |
Scenario 6 | Scenario 6 | Scenario 6 |
| 7. Other options available from the Health Statistics NSW 'Home Page' | Scenario 7 | Scenario 7 | Scenario 7 |
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