Chapter 2: Choosing an effective visualization Flashcards
Why do we need to be cautious when reducing multiple numbers to a single one? P 55
I advise caution, however, any time you reduce from multiple numbers down to a single one—🧨 think about what context may be lost in doing so. 🧨 In this case, I find that the actual magnitude of the numbers (20% and 41%) is helpful in interpreting and understanding the change.
What is the best way of visualizing When you have just a number or two that you want to communicate? P 56
To use the numbers directly!
When is it best to use tables? P 56
Tables are great for communicating to a mixed audience, whose members will each look for their particular row of interest.
If you need to communicate multiple different units of measure, this is also typically easier with a table than a graph.
Is using a table in a live presentation a good idea? P 56
No
What is the best setting for table borders? light? dark? thin? thick? P 57
You want the design to fade into the background. The data should be what stands out, not the borders.
letting the data take center stage. Don’t let heavy borders or shading compete for attention. Instead, think
of using light borders or simply white space to set apart elements
of the table.
Using what can we draw heatmaps in Excel? P 58
Conditional formatting
What do we need to add to the heatmaps to help the reader interpret the data easier? P 59
Include a 🧨 legend 🧨 to help the reader interpret the data (Like Low-High)
Why scatter plots are not that often used in the business world? P 60
Scatter plots tend to be more frequently used in scientific fields
(and perhaps, because of this, are sometimes viewed as complicated
to understand by those less familiar with them). Though infrequent,
there are use cases for scatter plots in the business world as well.
What are the two most commonly used line graphs? P 61
The standard line graph
The slope graph
When you’re graphing time on the horizontal x‐axis of a line graph, the data plotted must be in consistent intervals. True/False P 62
When you’re graphing time on the horizontal x‐axis of a line graph, the data plotted must be in consistent intervals. Be consistent in the time points you plot
In some cases, the line in your line graph may represent a
summary statistic, like the average, or the point estimate of
a forecast. If you also want to give a sense of the range (or
confidence level, depending on the situation), you can do
that directly on the graph by also visualizing this range.True/False
True
What are slope graphs? P 63
Slopegraphs can be useful when you have 🧨 two 🧨 time periods or
points of comparison and want to quickly show relative increases
and decreases or differences across various categories between the
two data points.
Bar charts MUST have a zero baseline. True/False P 68
True
What is the point of having a zero baseline? P 68
So you don’t over zoom and make minor changes or differences appear significant.
As you add more series of data in a bar chart, it won’t really become more difficult to focus on one at a time and pull out insight, so use multiple series bar charts often. True/False P 70 (search multiple series bar chart if you don’t remember what they are)
False.
Note that as you add more series of data, it becomes
more difficult to focus on one at a time and pull out insight, so use
multiple series bar charts with caution
Use cases for stacked vertical bar charts are plenty! True/False
False
Use cases for stacked vertical bar charts are more limited, It is hard to compare the subcomponents across the various categories once you get beyond the bottom series (the one directly next to the x‐axis) because you no longer have a consistent baseline to use to compare.
The waterfall chart can be used to pull apart the pieces of a ____ chart to focus on one at a time, or to show a ____
P 71
stacked bar, starting point, increases and decreases, and the resulting ending point
If I had to pick a single go‐to graph for categorical data, it would be the____, which flips the vertical version on its side. Why?
P 73
horizontal bar chart
Because it is extremely easy to read.
This way by the time we get to the data, we already know what it represents (instead of the darting back and forth our eyes do between the data and category names with vertical bar charts)
Similar to the stacked vertical bar chart, stacked horizontal bar charts can be used to show ____ but also give a sense of the subcomponent pieces. They can be structured to show either absolute values or sum to 100%.
P 74
the totals across different categories
Give an example of when the stacked horizontal bar charts can be useful.
P 75
this approach can work well for visualizing survey data collected along a Likert scale (a scale commonly used in surveys that typically ranges from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree)
Good data visualization—infographic or otherwise—is not simply a collection of facts on a given topic; good data visualization ____.
P 77
tells a story
There are also some specific graph
types and elements that you should avoid: ____
P 77
pie charts (hard for people to read), donut charts, 3D(NEVER), and secondary y‐axes(drawing 2 y axes on two sides of x axis, generally not a good idea).
You should avoid the use of a secondary or right‐hand y‐axis, but there are 2 ways we can do instead. what are they?
P 83
- Don’t show the second y‐axis. Instead, label the data points that belong on this axis directly. (puts more attention on the specific numbers)
- Pull the graphs apart vertically and have a separate y‐axis for each
(both along the left) but leverage the same x‐axis across both.( puts more focus on the overarching trends.)
