Numerator denominator VS Percentage indicators
These indicators measure the proportion or relative amount of something in relation to a whole, expressed as a percentage. They provide data about the part of a whole that meets a certain criterion.
This article explains the difference between selecting Numerator/Denominator Indicator VS selecting a Percentage indicator.
We recommend using a percentage type indicators when you values share a same base. If not, use the Numerator/Denominator type.
Example
You have a group of 447 participants. Of these, 220 are male and 227 are female.
Lets say we need to calculate the percentage of participants who meet a condition, disaggregated by gender, let's say the condition is "Attended training".
Option 1: Using Percentage Indicator
In this case, LogAlto takes the overall values of those who meet the condition and makes an average.
Using the example above, if 97 male out of 220 and 145 women out of 227 participated in the training, LogAlto calculates the following:
The disaggregated percentages are always averaged together to provide the total.
We recommend using disaggregated percentage type indicators only if the values share a same base. In our example this would of been the case if we were counting the rate of male (97/242) and female (145/242) attendees and disregarding the remainder of the population. An other classic example would be counting student grades since they are all based on 100%.
Option 2: Using Numerator/Denominator indicators
LogAlto gives you the options for how you want the disaggregated rates to be calculated. When counting people, we recommend using Sum of all numerators / Sum of all denominators
Using the example presented above, LogAlto would calculate this:
This calculation takes into account the “weight” of each option, and the final total is calculated on this basis. This is most likely your preferred method for this example.
For more information on this type of indicator see our article here.