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Week 10: Writing & Publishing Reports

Overview

This week turns a slide-sized finding into a short reproducible report. A report does more than present a result. It shows where the data came from, how the output was generated, what the evidence supports, and what remains uncertain.

The default publishing pathway is a private preview unless the data, repository, and group privacy checks show that public sharing is safe.

If you want the big picture first, the Private Preview page opens with a workflow diagram showing how editing, rendering, previewing, committing, and publishing fit together.

ImportantRequired / Draft / Optional This Week
  • Required (graded): the Assignment 9 files and the group M3 project update, explained in report05.
  • Draft (class work that feeds A9/M3, not graded on its own): the report outline, rendered template, and grounding audit from the class plan below.
  • Optional (no penalty for skipping): public publishing — the course default is a private preview (report04).

Tags like [required] and [optional] are defined in How To Read Submission Lists.

Objectives

By the end of the week you can:

  • structure a short Quarto report around one descriptive question;
  • generate one table and one figure from code;
  • cite a data source using a BibTeX workflow;
  • trace key claims to code output, citations, or limitations;
  • choose a private or public preview route based on privacy and stewardship checks.

Connection

Week 9 turned one finding into a concise slide story. Week 10 expands the same evidence into a reproducible report and M3 project update. Week 11 then stress-tests whether the report and KT product run in a fresh environment.

Dashboard Case Study: NHANES Equity

The NHANES Health Equity Dashboard is now the foreground case study. Use it as a small knowledge-translation product built on the cached NHANES equity dataset.

  • App code: examples/nhanes-equity/app/app.R
  • Cached data: examples/nhanes-equity/data/nhanes_equity_v6.rds and examples/nhanes-equity/data/nhanes_equity_v6.csv
  • Optional rebuild script: examples/nhanes-equity/scripts/build_nhanes_equity.R

Run the dashboard from the repository root:

shiny::runApp("examples/nhanes-equity/app")

The app is offline-first: it loads the local RDS cache when available. Rebuilding from CDC uses nhanesA, requires internet access, and is optional unless assigned.

Companion materials:

  • Week 10 report template: weeks/week10-reporting-publishing/report-template.qmd
  • Week 11 static dashboard demo: weeks/week11-portfolio-surgery/static-dashboard-ojs.qmd

Reading Order

  1. report01 - Report Goals
  2. report02 - Report Structure
  3. Report Template
  4. report03 - Citations and Grounding
  5. report04 - Private Preview
  6. report05 - Assignment 9 and M3

Class Plan

  1. Start from one Week 9 claim or one M3-ready finding.
  2. Draft a report outline: question, data, methods, results, limitations.
  3. Render the Report Template and identify the table, figure, citation, and limitation.
  4. Add or revise one citation/source note.
  5. Complete a grounding audit for three claims.
  6. Decide whether the preview should stay private or can be public-safe.

For step 3, always name the file you are rendering. In your personal workspace, use:

quarto render assignments/assignment09-reporting/submission/report.qmd
TipHow to render: the course default

  1. Open the .qmd file you want to render, then open the Command Palette (View → Command Palette, or press Ctrl+Shift+P on Windows/Linux / Cmd+Shift+P on Mac) and run Quarto: Render Document. The Quarto extension renders the file and opens a preview pane.

  2. Always-works fallback (terminal): type the render command with the file’s path as shown in the Explorer, for example:

    quarto render practice_report.qmd

    Always name the file — a bare quarto render rebuilds the whole project and takes much longer.

  3. If you see a Render (or Preview) button in the editor toolbar, it does the same thing as step 1.

Where did the output go? Watch the render log for the Output created: line — it names the exact .html file created. By default the file appears next to your .qmd; in projects that set an output directory (like this book’s docs/ folder), it appears there instead. If no preview opened automatically, find that .html file in the Explorer, right-click it, and choose Download to open it in your browser (or Open Preview if available).

Student Output

By the end of class each group has a report outline, a rendered template or draft report, a citation/source note, three grounded claims, and an M3 feedback request.

Definition of Done

  • The report source renders.
  • One table and one figure are generated by code.
  • Citations resolve.
  • The limitation section avoids unsupported causal or population-level claims.
  • The preview route protects data and group privacy.

What Students Leave With

A short report draft and project update that can be reviewed in Week 11 for reproducibility, clarity, auditability, and KT value.