Transcript Depicting Data (week thirteen)

Depicting Data
Making it Comprehesnible
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?
Depicting Data
 Should tell a story (i.e. trends over time, patterns)
 Relate back to the whole
 Offers possibility of projections and comparisons
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
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
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
Choosing Displays (Census)
Choosing Displays (Census)
Effect of Choices on Displays
 Old Faithful
 http://www.stat.sc.edu/~west/javahtml/Histogram.html
Depicting data
Wicked Awesome Examples
Info Maps
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
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