No Computers Data Viz

Schwab

Names and Surveys

Survey Questions

Data Viz no computers

Sheets data

• Data Frame

• Observations

• Tidy Data

• Variables

• Variable Types

Part 1: Hand drawn graphs of survey questions.

Draw a graph of a variable. Do not write your name.

• It does not need to be perfect.

• Try to make it correct.

  • It is fine if its not correct.

Talk to someone close to you.

Answer these questions:

1. Is the graph’s message or story clear?

2. What is missing from each graph?

3. What is distracting from the graph?

4. What does the graph do well?

What makes a clear graph?

Class discussion.

Graph Context.

1. Title

2. Well labeled Axes

3. Author’s Name

4. Data Source

5. Captions

Baumer’s Thoughts

Some of the following slides were borrowed by the text’s author.

A misleading chart from Apple

Pie charts

Are 6-cylinder engines more common among manuals or automatics?

Unclear Scales

• Often not very clearly defined
• Easy to lie by manipulating scales
• Why perspective?
• Width of lines?

Clearer Scales

• Good graphics have clear scales
  • Remember iPhone sales graphic

Tufte

The follow slides are taken from Tufte.

Recommended: The Visual Display of Quantitative Information.

Balance of art vs. science

Data graphics:

• purpose is to convey meaning

• scientific, rigorous

• peer-reviewed

• clear

• creative!

Infographics:

• purpose might be to draw eyeballs

• entertaining?

• sales or marketing?

• public sphere

• creative

We’re only interested in the former

Other people have thought about this

Do’s and Don’t

Tufte’s Data to Ink Ratio

Flowing Data

Some Graphs to discuss in groups

The Economist’s Graph detail

Graphs from the NYTimes