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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. Save 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. When a menu asks which format, choose Render HTML (or Render PDF (Typst) for a PDF).

  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. The Preview button at the top-right of the editor renders too, in the format the file asks for, without the menu.

Where did the output go? Watch the render log for the Output created: line — it names the exact 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.

To look at it, click the file in the Explorer: an .html or .pdf opens in a tab inside VS Code. After you render again, close that tab and click the file again. To open it in your own browser instead (for example, slides to present full screen, or a page to print), right-click it and choose Download.

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.