best practices in presenting data
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Best Practices in Presenting Data. Created by Sarah Marschall, Client Services Manager Social Entrepreneurs, Inc. www.socialent.com. Extensive data is available to tell the story Strong demand for understanding Technology makes it easier and faster - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Best Practices in Presenting DataCreated by Sarah Marschall, Client Services Manager Social Entrepreneurs, Inc.www.socialent.com
Why It’s Important
Extensive data is available to tell the story
Strong demand for understandingTechnology makes it easier and fasterToo much (or too little) information creates new frustrations and communication problems
Best Practices or Just Preferences?
What Makes for Data Presentation Effective?
When it comes to data (like candy), some like toffees, and others go for raspberry crèmes.
Is there really best practice, or just preferences?
While there is certainly room for diversity, some basic principles make data – more digestible!
Visualization Principles
Clear &CleanCommunicates
You + Data
See it …
then,
Share it!
There is the data you want to share Try to design it so that it communicates to your audience. To do this , you have to
See it first, then you can Share it with your audienceThis takes some space and time to:
analyze, reflect, Design…. and then Refine.
Using Color
Blue is a great color for data.Colors mean different things in different cultures, and to different people…If in doubt, get some feedback.
Using Contrast
Contrast is importantColorblindness, visual disabilities are common
Textures and shading can replace or supplement colors
Cleaning Up Graphs and Figures
Some real-life “before and after” examples
Table Before:
Too much data
Hard to read
Not clear
Not Yet Emerging
Almost Mastered
Mastered
Ave.
S2_1_SeekHelp 28 306 402 903 3.3S2_2_CooperativePlaywithPeers
23 105 357 1,154 3.6
S2_3_ImpulseControl 71 378 451 739 3.1S2_4_AttentionToTasks 74 334 648 583 3.1S2_5_CuriousAboutSchool
14 123 494 1,008 3.5
S2_6_PersistantInTasks S3_7_RecognizeOwnName
20 101 382 1,136 3.6
S3_8_ExpressiveVerbalAbilities
39 169 559 872 3.4
S3_9_NumbersRepresentQuantity
91 184 315 1,049 3.4
S3_10_WritesOwnName 48 193 1,164 234 3.0S3_11_ColorRecognition 94 140 428 977 3.4S3_12_ShapeRecognition 109 196 387 947 3.3
Table After:
Less data &
Sorted to answer evaluation question
Item Observed as “Almost Mastered” (3) or
“Fully Mastered” (4) # %Recognize Own Name 1,518 93%Cooperative Play with Peers 1,511 92%Curious About School 1,502 92%Persistent in Tasks 1,481 90%Expressive Verbal Abilities 1,431 87%Color Recognition 1,405 86%Writes Own Name 1,398 85%Numbers Represent Quantity 1,364 83%Shape Recognition 1,334 81%Seeks Help 1,305 80%Attention To Tasks 1,231 75%Impulse Control 1,190 73%
Table Before:
Requires additional narrative to understand
Clark Eldorado Silverado Sunrise
Mountain Western
Middle School Outreach
Community/Business Partnerships
Mentors
Speakers
Students' Outreach
Expanded FERC Hours
Family Outreach
Workforce Connections
WLC involvement
Table After:
Sorted further
Reversed axes
Revealed new patterns (core & additional)
WLC involvement
Community/Business
Partnerships
Family
Outreach
Student
Outreach
Middle
School
Outreach
Expanded
FERC Hours
Workforce
Connections
Mentors
Speakers
Core components Additional Activities
Clark √ √ √ √ √ √ √Eldorad
o √ √ √ √ √Silverad
o √ √ √ √ √ √ √Sunrise Mountai
n√ √ √ √ √ √ √
Western √ √ √ √ √ √
Bar Chart Before:
Hard to read labels
A lot of grey
Bar Chart After:
Shortened labels
Removed gridlines
Color to and size to emphasize key opportunities
Credit Rqt. And Courses
Support My Student's Education
Requirements for Graduation
Received and Undertand Course Info.
Good Communication on Grades
Teachers and Counselor's Respect My Ideas
97
97
96
96
96
94
94
92
92
6866
54
% Families Reporting “Yes” – to Knowledge & Awareness
Based on Survey of Families, n =
Qualitative Before
Hard to know what matters most
What Family Access Day Participants Liked Best:
Information to help our children in school in general
Information to help our children with/getting to/paying for college
The family learning together The take away materials to use at home Supports: translation, transportation,
child care, lunch Information about math Information about reading/literacy The personalities of the presenters and
organizers of the event The interaction and helpful answers to
their questions in person That the content was modifiable to any
grade level The location- that it was held at a
university Student panel session
Qualitative After
Callouts draw reader back to the list
What Family Access Day Participants Liked Best:
Information to help our children in school in general
Information to help our children with/getting to/paying for college
The family learning together The take away materials to use at home Supports: translation, transportation,
child care, lunch Information about math Information about reading/literacy
The personalities of the presenters and organizers of the event
The interaction and helpful answers to their questions in person
That the content was modifiable to any grade level
The location- that it was held at a university
Student panel session
“[I] learn[ed] that it’s very important
to read, read.”
“Asking question and talking [and] getting answers [from] a person”
Spatial Before
Narrative used to describe geographic breakout
“Families represented a broad geographic distribution from within the county. Over half of the total population (57%) was from one of five zip code areas (89502, 89431, 89433, 89506 and 89512). Parent University reached more people in more areas of the county than in 2011-12, including rural areas of Nixon and Wadsworth (Social Entrepreneurs Inc. and WCSD Office of Family School Partnerships, 2011-12). Summary based on data from parent surveys; 1,139 of 1,244 total surveys included information on their 5-digit home zip code. Map contains 97% of all participants by zip code. 14 zip code areas had 4 or fewer participants and are not shown on map. “
….WORDS …WORDS ...WORDS …
….Catch all that???…
Spatial After:
Create a map!
Challenges and Suggestions
Report is boring. Bring out your qualitative data. Stories and voice is compelling (to most)
Graph is hard to understand. Consider several small graphs Reorder your data Re-make it to communicate Use color or size
Information is spatial. Make a map - many new tools are web-based and easy for beginners
Challenges and Suggestions
Sick of smart-art.Get out the pen and drawGet help visualizing your data (Ask your co-workers or consumers to draw with you)
Simple doesn’t tell the whole story.
Make it simple. Put the details in an appendix or companion document. If you can’t see it – how can your audience?
Finally…
Printing Data
Reports may be printed in c0lor, black and white, or grey-scale.
Printing (including to PDF) sometimes results in changes to the look of your charts and tables
Check your final versions to make sure your document still communicates your data.
Tools and Resources
Check these out!
Color: Check out Design Seeds for amazing color inspiration. http://design-seeds.com/ A Leader in the Field:
Stephanie Evergreen blogs, writes, and holds webinars on the subject.Awesome tips for those of us that like (or don’t like) Excel. http://stephanieevergreen.com/blog/
Inspiration: Check out PBS Backstory about Data Visualization highlighting the art and science from the forefront…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdSZJzb-aX8&feature=share&list=PLTOiUmhVCEQQ9Kokk-awLgscBo_3MHr_k
Google: Use the image search feature in google to see lots of examples all at once. www. images.google.com
Professional Guidance: The American Evaluation Association has extensive resources – membership provides access to regular information just like this. http://www.eval.org/ Chris Metzner’s Blog
http://www.chrismetzner.com/blog/