The only thing I love more than analyzing research data is analyzing personal finance data. In both cases, simple descriptive statistics and basic charts can shine a spotlight on interesting patterns and help people choose their course of action. Not too long ago, a friend…
When social scientists like me have lots of data, we tend to put it in tables. There’s nothing wrong with tables. They contain infinite details within a finite and teeny space, and they give the reader freedom to draw his or her own conclusions about which details…
For the record, I had no clue that data visualization could be easy. As someone who’d spent two years working to understand and improve an organizational dashboard (not to mention an evaluation process), perhaps I should have known better. My assumption, for whatever reason, was…
I’ve been building portfolios of my work for a while. Over the past year or so I’ve been building an online portfolio of speaking and writing engagements. Before that, I collected paper copies of reports I worked on: Before The great sobering thing about portfolios is that…
Does data visualization leave you feeling like this? If so, this beginner-level post is for you! Data visualization requires two skill sets: technical skills to create visualizations in a software program and critical thinking skills to match your visualization to your audience’s information needs,…