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Analytical Sticky Tape
‘Analytical Sticky Tape’ is a term coined by Helen James, who used to be Head of Insight at Boots. She now helps to run AURA and also runs our own training course: ‘Writing For Maximum Impact’. She’s hit upon a very important part of the insight role, which is contrary to some people’s training and beliefs – namely, that at times you shouldn’t present the whole truth. To put it bluntly, analytical sticky tape is all about either hiding or changing peripheral results.
This DOESN’T mean the deliberate falsification of data to support invalid conclusions. Quite the opposite: it’s about facing up to the very real fact that specific results can sometimes be misleading or contradictory, and if they are included in a presentation they can distract the audience from the real results and conclusions.
Insight teams have to deliver value by providing robust support to decision-making. As professionals, we know when strange or contradictory results should be ignored. But many people in our audiences don’t have this level of understanding, so it’s sometimes best just to hide the results. If we allow an important decision to be delayed or avoided because of a distraction, we are failing in our duty to deliver the highest possible value.
Have you got it taped?
So when should we apply analytical sticky tape? Key times include:
- When different sources of data conflict for a good reason, and the use of one figure instead of another won’t have a material impact on the conclusions from the project or on the decision to be made.
- Where a specific figure is technically accurate but can’t be taken at face value, or is misleading. This might be due to an exceptional event, or something like an extreme outlying figure that distorts the overall average.
- Where some accurate data highlights an issue that must be addressed, but this is a side issue which doesn’t have a bearing on the core project. To expose it in that particular situation would simply be distracting.
Common sense is required when handling such situations. But here are some ideas that might help:
- There may be known contradictions in the data (e.g. an ongoing conflict between the sales suggested by survey data and those known to be true from internal financial accounts). Find the origin of the differences and then get your stakeholders to agree which of the two figures should be used for internal and presentational purposes. This exposes it and turns it into a non-issue.
- If it’s easy and won’t be noticed, simply omit the offending data.
- If there’s a sensible reason why specific data can’t be taken at face value, use your judgement (and any supporting data) to apply a pragmatic adjustment to the numbers.
Use with care
Please note that whilst it would be wrong to shy away from this issue, it also carries risks and may be personally uncomfortable. Offset this by applying the following rules:
- Take key stakeholders into your confidence and get their agreement wherever possible.
- At the very least, ask a colleague to check what you’ve done to ensure that your judgement is correct.
- Any adjustments should be documented clearly so that if similar figures occur again, an identical adjustment can be applied.
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