Depicting Data

1. Depicting Data Making it Comprehesnible

2. Depicting Data (adapted in part from Mandeville) • Graphical displays help make sense of raw data. • Can be an aid in analysis • Should enhance overall communication • Involves choices about what/how to display • What do you want to say? Are you trying to inform? Persuade? • Who do you want to say it to? • Does data help to tell the story?

3. Depicting Data • Should tell a story (i.e. trends over time, patterns) • Relate back to the whole • Offers possibility of projections and comparisons

4. Common Types of Visuals • Graphs/histograms • Bar charts • Pie charts • Line charts • http://www.statcan.ca/english/edu/power/ch9/piecharts/pie.htm • Pictures/Concept maps • Data mapping • Tables

5. Improving Communication • Double-check data • Keep the message simple • Visuals should be able to speak for themselves if done well • Be sure sequence is logical • Remember- different displays can impact message

6. Choosing Displays • If data is mostly qualitative/textual tables are often preferable • Quantitative data can often be best displayed in histograms and graphs • In particular, quantitative data with 5 or more data points are usually best displayed in graphs

8. Choosing Displays (Census)

9. Choosing Displays (Census)

10. Effect of Choices on Displays • Old Faithful • http://www.stat.sc.edu/~west/javahtml/Histogram.html

11. Depicting data Wicked Awesome Examples

12. Info Maps

13. Interactive Displays • Achieving Visual Excellence • http://www.visual-literacy.org/stairs_of_viz/stairs_of_viz.html • Periodic Table of Visualization Methds • http://www.visual-literacy.org/periodic_table/periodic_table.html • Baby Name Finder • http://www.babynamewizard.com/voyager#ms=false&exact=false

14. References • Visual Literacy • http://www.visual-literacy.org/pages/documents.htm • Tables vs. graphs • http://www.ncsu.edu/labwrite/res/tablevsgraph/res-tablevsgraph.html • Visual displays of data • www.nhhealthpolicyinstitute.unh.edu/ec/ppt/03_visual.ppt