visualizing data

FACILITATOR Michael Netzley, PhD Academic Director, SMU ExD

17 October 2014

DAY 1

Who Can Tell Me…

•  French Invasion of Russia: 24 June – 14 December, 1812

•  680,000 soldiers in the Grande Armee; 200,000 Russian soldiers

•  Reached Moscow on Sept 14 and exited on Oct 19 with only 100,000 troops

•  Battlefield death, wounded, disease and desertion were reasons for losses

•  During the return, exposure during an early winter and starvation added to the toll

•  Failure was the beginning of Napoleon’s end

Anything About Napoleon’s March on Russia in 1814?

Michael  Netzley,  Phd.    2014  

Brutal elegance of Napoleon’s ill-fated march on Russia

Michael  Netzley,  Phd.    2014  

Michael Netzley About The Prof

•  Academic Director, SMU Executive Development •  In Asia and SMU faculty since 2002 •  Daddy with 3 daughters & 1 son •  2011 Champion’s Award, Innovative Course

Design and Delivery •  2010 & 2011 Research Fellow, Society for New

Communication Research •  Visiting positions in Argentina, Berlin, Finland, Slovenia,

and Japan •  Key clients include Unilever, IBM, IHG, BNP Paribas,

Singapore Airlines, TCS, 3M, UOB, Singapore’s MFA & MoE, Singhgealth, Raffles Medical, Schneider Electric, Sumitomo Chemical and Infineon.

•  PhD, University of Minnesota

How We Get It Wrong

Michael  Netzley,  Phd.    2014  

Can be boring and easy to re-interpret or dismiss.

Michael  Netzley,  Phd.    2014  

Michael  Netzley,  Phd.    2014  

•  Napoleon took power in 1799 •  He then earned several military victories giving him nearly complete control over most of

Europe •  Following a dispute, Napoleon decided it was time to teach Alexander of Russia a lesson •  French Invasion of Russia: 24 June – 14 December, 1812 •  680,000 soldiers in the Grande Armee; 200,000 Russian soldiers •  Initially, Napoleon’s march into Russia was largely uncontested, until just outside of

Moscow at the city of Borodino •  Reached Moscow and exited on October 19 with only 100,000 troops •  By then the Russians had fled the city, left it burning, and had taken most of the food

with them •  Up to this point, battlefield death, wounded, disease and desertion were why Napoleon’s

army was much smaller in size. •  With no spoils of war available, Napoleon decided to leave Russia and return to France

on Sept. 14 •  During the return, exposure to an early winter and starvation added to the death toll •  This ill-fated march on Moscow marked the beginning of Napoleon’s end

2.6

2.4

2.2

2

1.8

1.6

1900 1920 1940 1960 1980

Scissors Western

Roll

Straddle

Fosbury Flop

Source: Pascale Michael  Netzley,  Phd.    2014  

Visual data reveals the source of a disease

•  Lesson 1: Place data in the appropriate context

•  Lesson 2: Enable meaningful comparisons

•  Lesson 3: Consider alternative explanations and contrary cases

Michael  Netzley,  Phd.    2014  

Michael  Netzley,  Phd.    2014  

Pa#ern  Recogni-on  

When to Use Tables •  Total data points are fewer than

20-25 •  Need to make specific

comparisons of specific numbers •  Be sure to use interpreting titles:

“Data Reveals Increased Economic Growth”

•  Forget the fancy formatting and focus on making the presentation clear and unambiguous

When to Use Graphs & Charts •  When you have more than 25

data points •  Want to show comparisons

between groups or categories (graphs)

•  When you want to compare trends across time (chart)

•  Again, focus on precision of presentation and no need to get fancy

How to better drive comparison of specific data points

Data Integrity

Look at how exaggerated the presentation is when compared to the facts

Federal  Law:  mandated  a  53%  increase  in  fuel  economy  in  1978,  from  18  miles  per  gallon  to  27.5  miles  per  gallon  by  1985.  

Graphic  Display:  presents  this  as  a  783%  increase  by  starCng  with  a  line  .6  inches  long  and  increasing  to  a  line  5.3  inches  long.  

When Poor Data Presentation Costs Lives

Here the vertical axis emphasizes risk (rather than event)

For Fun

Source: http://www.simon-law.com/archives/1274

Best Resources

Michael  Netzley,  Phd.    2014  

Credit for the ideas in this presentation must be given to Prof. Edward Tufte and you can read more about his work at http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/