It’s your brain. A few of the million+ decisions your software program can’t make for you: 10. Which chart is best for your data. Yes, I’m well aware of Excel’s Suggested Charts feature. No, don’t even think about it. There’s no substitute for your critical thinking…
Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, Buffalo, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Kampala, DC… it’s been a wonderful few months in the data visualization workshop world! My favorite part of data visualization workshops? The airports. Kidding. Watching jaws drop when folks are introduced to small multiples layouts for…
A few posts ago, I showed you this collage of area charts, which could be printed on 8.5 x 11 inch paper and used as a discussion starter at a meeting: This is made-up data, but I share handouts like these at meetings all the…
A few months ago I received a copy of the Chronicle of Philanthropy. An article about nonprofit CEO salaries caught my attention. Let’s zoom in and check out that data table: Nevermind that the data (salary ranges) has nothing to do with the article (turnover)….
Let’s pretend you’re tracking whether friendly reminder messages bring in more responses to your survey. Can you spot the fatal flaw? See it? Go check out the x-axis. Where the heck are Days 5, 6, 7, 12, 13, 14, and 20? (This is where you…
I used to conduct qualitative-heavy research projects pretty much all day every day. Key informant interviews, bellwether interviews, document review, focus groups, you name it… …so I know from personal experience that 99.9% of qualitative reports look like this: Which is fine, unless you want someone…
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…
First, the best thing I’ve ever written about: Ann K. Emery: Independent consultant! I’m taking my data visualization and data analysis interests to the next level. Life is short; spend it well. My goal: To equip you to collect, analyze, and visualize your own…
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…
![Who knew dataviz could be so easy? [Guest post by Stephen Alexander]](/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/alexander_remake.png)
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…