Intro

Question 1

What is Information Visualization?

Answer 1

Information Visualization is the study of visual representations of abstract data as a means of reinforcing human cognition.

A field of study and design that attempts to represent abstract data in accordance with the nature and limitations of human cognition.

Stephen Few “…a visual display of the most important information needed to achieve one or more objectives; consolidated and arranged on a single screen so the information can be monitored at a glance.”

Question 2

What is a dashboard?

Answer 2

A single- screen display of the most important information people need to do a job, presented in a way that allows them to monitor what’s going on in an instant.

Question 3

How are dashboards used?

Answer 3

Used as a means of visualizing vast amounts of abstract data, and in converting qualitative and quantitative information into visual representations the meaning should not be lost in translation.

Question 4

Successful dashboard design is based on an understanding of…?

a. The psychology of touch and visual perception
b. Human cognition and the psychology of touch
c. Visual perception and human cognition

Answer 4

c. Visual perception and human cognition

Question 5

Scatter plots and tree maps are examples of…

Answer 5

visualization

Question 6

Hypothesis tests and regression are examples of…

Answer 6

Statistics

Question 7

Association mining is an example of..

Answer 7

data mining

Question 8

clustering and classification are examples of …

Answer 8

machine learning methods

Question 9

What is the yardstick on which the success of information visualization is measured?

Answer 9

The speed and accuracy with which users can make comparisons, draw conclusions, and identify specific patterns (among many other possible functions)

Question 10

What is your responsibility as a designer when designing for visualization?

Answer 10

Ensure users can find the most vital information for themselves immediately, in easy comparable “pockets”

Question 11

Dashboard displays should…

Answer 11

1. Be presented on a single screen
2. Support the aims and objectives of the intended users/viewer
3. Explicitly show them what the underlying quantitation and qualitative data mean
4. Provide brief summaries or overviews to help users gain an instant understanding of the core data
5. Provide instant access to more specific data
6. Use the available space economically

Question 12

Dashboard displays should not…

Answer 12

1. Flood the viewer with information
   a. Over-burden the viewer with ‘unprocessed’ data that requires calculation, interpretation or deep analysis
2. Contain superfluous graphics
3. Include any non data-carrying element, to ensure the limited screen space is conserved; limiting the amount of scanning required to identify relevant, data-carrying parts of the display

Question 13

Please outline the role of the dashboard designer.

Answer 14

Quantitative data are data about numeric variables

Answer 15

Qualitative data are measures of ‘types’ and may be represented by a name, symbol, or a number code. Qualitative data are data about categorical variables (e.g. what type).

Question 16

What are the five distinct regions a dashboard can be divided into, each representing a progressively less eye-catching space?

Answer 16

1. Top left-hand corner: usually where the viewer first directs their attention, so this should be the location of the most important information or an overview that orients the view and informs them of further, more specific content.
2. Secondary or more specific information
3. If the viewer does not focus on the top left-hand corner first, then in all likelihood they will look to the center of the screen for the most important information. Gaze location is, in part, dependent upon where the viewer was focussing before navigating to the dashboard.
4. Bottom left, secondary or more specific information
5. Least important information

Question 17

What determines a user’s gaze location?

Answer 17

The place on the previous screen they have used to access the new one.

Answer 18

Simplify the viewer’s job by using consistent representations for items that share the same meaning, and increase superficial variation between items with distinct meanings.

Question 19

Which of the following is true about consistency in dashboard design?

a. Using the same graphics for different sources of information impairs the user experience.
b. Users are usually quick to adapt to stylistic changes in chosen display methods.
c. Users learn one set of behaviors for a task and apply this on later occasions.

Answer 19

c. Users learn one set of behaviors for a task and apply this on later occasions.

Using the same styles, text labels, functions, icons, and display methods for similar tasks reduces the amount of new learning the user must undertake, saving time, and effort and potentially improving the user/viewer experience.

Question 20

Which of the following is true about using graphics to show quantitative data?

a. The raw data should always be supplied in a smaller area for users to verify the presented data.
b. The chief purpose of the graphics is just to show data.
c. The data should be shown on a suitable scale; the more detailed the information, the more screen space required.

Answer 20

b. The chief purpose of the graphics is just to show data.

Question 21

If you’re designing a dashboard, you should…?

a. Break essential information into individual units of data so users can understand what they want to see in its more basic form.

b. Present the finer details up close to users first, so they can locate isolated data and then step back to get an overview.

c. Combine the important information into easy-to-consume pockets with clear verbal and statistical descriptions.