spq-tables-figures

Tables & Figures (spq-tables-figures)

Exhibits are where an expert reviewer checks whether the result is real and whether it actually shows the structure–individual link the paper claims. At SPQ exhibits follow the ASA Style Guide and must stand on their own for a reader who works in a different tradition (a group-processes reviewer reading an SSP survey table, or vice versa).

When to trigger

• Designing the main results table/figure or a key descriptive/measurement exhibit
• Deciding what belongs in the article vs. supplementary materials
• A reviewer found an exhibit unclear, mislabeled, or non-self-contained
• Presenting measurement models, multilevel results, or interaction effects clearly

Principles

1. Self-contained. A reader should understand each exhibit from its title, row/column or axis labels, and note alone — without hunting through the text. State units, sample, N, and what the estimate is.
2. Show magnitude and uncertainty. Predicted-probability and marginal-effects plots, coefficient plots with intervals, and clear path/SEM diagrams communicate better than a wall of coefficients.
3. Make the social-psychological link visible. Plot the effect of the structural/status variable on the individual outcome; show the moderation or mediation that carries the mechanism.
4. Accessible to a mixed readership. Colorblind-safe palettes; legible in grayscale; no chartjunk. Define construct names a reader outside your tradition may not know.
5. ASA Style Guide formatting. Table and figure conventions, notes, and significance reporting per ASA style; keep numbering consistent with the text.

Tradition-specific exhibits

• Group processes/experiments: cell-means/interaction plots, treatment-effect plots with intervals.
• SSP/survey: coefficient/marginal-effects plots, multilevel results tables, measurement (CFA) summaries.
• Interpretive: evidence tables linking claims to interaction excerpts/sources; process diagrams; timelines.

Article vs. supplementary materials

• Keep the few exhibits that carry the argument in the article; move balance checks, full specifications, scale items, and extended robustness to supplementary materials (excluded from the ~10,000-word budget) — this is also how you fit the cap.

Anti-patterns

• Tables that require the prose to be intelligible (not self-contained)
• Reporting significance stars with no effect size or interval
• Burying the structure–individual effect in a coefficient wall instead of plotting it
• Color-only encoding that fails in grayscale or for colorblind readers
• Construct labels meaningful only to your own subfield

Exhibit pass for Social Psychology Quarterly

Run this as a concrete capability pass. First lock the social-psychological process, measurement, design, and boundary condition across groups or contexts; then test whether the manuscript addresses social-psychology reviewers who expect interaction, identity, group process, or status mechanisms grounded in sociological theory.

• Primary move: For every table or figure, state the object, sample/case base, uncertainty display, and one sentence the exhibit proves for this venue.
• Decision ledger: return claim / evidence / blocker / next edit rows so the next pass can patch the manuscript directly.
• Sibling comparison: compare against JPSP for psychology breadth, ASR/AJS for sociology theory stakes, Social Forces for broader empirical sociology; if the neighboring outlet has the stronger audience claim, recommend re-routing before polishing.
• Verification floor: before submission-ready advice, re-open resources/official-source-map.md for volatile rules and name the one unresolved fact that could change the recommendation.

Output format

【Main exhibit】what it shows + why a figure/table
【Shows the structure–individual link?】[Y/N]
【Self-contained?】title + labels + note + N/units present? [Y/N]
【Accessible?】grayscale-legible + colorblind-safe + ASA-style? [Y/N]
【Article vs supplementary】split decided, word-budget impact noted
【Next】spq-writing-style

Supplementary resources

• ../../resources/external_tools.md — plotting, SEM-diagram, and exhibit packages
• ../../resources/official-source-map.md — ASA Style Guide and word-count rule