Data Visualization for Business Decisions E-Book

Mercury Learning and Information

• Herausgeber: Packt Publishing
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 141

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

This workbook is for business analysts aiming to enhance their skills in creating data visuals, presentations, and report illustrations to support business decisions. It focuses on developing visualization and analytical skills through qualitative labs. Readers will analyze and describe chart improvements instead of directly modifying them. The course covers eighteen elements across six dimensions: Story, Signs, Purpose, Perception, Method, and Charts.
The journey starts with labs and a case study, introducing the analysis tool. It then delves into each dimension, guiding readers through exercises to enhance their understanding and skills. A comprehensive RAIKS survey assesses progress before and after using the text. The workbook concludes with a capstone exercise to review and analyze the final results of the two studied charts.
These skills are crucial for effective data communication in business. This workbook transitions readers from basic to advanced visualization techniques, blending theoretical insights with practical skills. Companion files with videos, sample files, and slides enhance learning, making this workbook an essential resource for mastering business data visualization.

Leseprobe

DATA VISUALIZATION FOR BUSINESS DECISIONS

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Companion files also available for downloading from the publisher by writing to [email protected].

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A. Fortino. Data Visualization for Business Decisions: A Laboratory Manual 3/E.

ISBN: 978-1-68392-595-8

The publisher recognizes and respects all marks used by companies, manufacturers, and developers as a means to distinguish their products. All brand names and product names mentioned in this book are trademarks or service marks of their respective companies. Any omission or misuse (of any kind) of service marks or trademarks, etc. is not an attempt to infringe on the property of others.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020939909

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All of our titles are available for sale in digital format at academiccourseware.com and other digital vendors. Companion files for this title can also be downloaded by writing to info@­merclearning.com. The sole obligation of MERCURY LEARNING AND INFORMATION to the purchaser is to ­replace the book, based on defective materials or faulty workmanship, but not based on the ­operation or functionality of the product.

In gratitude to the art teachers of my youth, Maestro Viera and Mrs. Greene. Their lessons were inspirational and indelible.

Contents

Preface

Chapter 1 The Labs

The Lab Exercises

Chapter 2 The Case Study

The Case Study

Chapter 3 The Analysis Tool

An Analysis Tool for Visuals

Chapter 4 Story

Visual Story Telling

Exercise 1: Creating Visual Stories

Exercise 2: Use as a Prop

Exercise 3: Emulating Storytellers

Chapter 5 Signs

Signs and Sign Making

Exercise 4: Using Signs

Exercise 5: Communications Systems

Exercise 6: Functional Design

Chapter 6 Purpose

Design with Purpose

Exercise 7: Information Needs

Exercise 8: Audience Characteristics

Exercise 9: Framed Analytical Questions

Chapter 7 Perception

Perception

Exercise 10: The Eye-Brain Connection

Exercise 11: Gestalt Principles of Perception

Exercise 12: Quality Matters

Chapter 8 Method

Method

Exercise 13: Using Color

Exercise 14: Chart Junk

Exercise 15: Titling Charts

Chapter 9 Charts

Charts

Exercise 16: Using the Right Chart

Exercise 17: Chart Selection

Exercise 18: Tables

Chapter 10 Case Study Document

Chapter 11 Case Study Solution – An Expert Opinion

The Six Dimensions

Appendix: Analysis of Additional Case Slides

Analysis of Additional Case Study Slides

Slide 3 – The Big Dip

Slide 4 – The Benefit to Millions

Slide 6 – The Real Reason for the Fall in Poverty Levels

Slide 9 – The Rest of the World

References

Index

Preface

This workbook is written for business analysts who wish to increase their skills in improving data visuals and creating compelling presentations used to support business decisions. It is a qualitative lab to develop the power of visualization and discrimination. It does not require the reader to modify charts but to analyze and describe what would improve those charts. In a set of guided exercises, the reader is taken through the eighteen elements of the six dimensions of analyzing and improving charts and visuals used to communicate business points.

An analyst, or anyone analyzing data, would typically create visuals of the analysis results as the analysis goes along. These are graphs of data for analysis; they are rough with no thought given to making them compelling at the point of analysis. Probably no one other than the analyst will ever see those rough analysis charts. These graphs may even accumulate in an electronic research notebook (typically a PowerPoint document) with slides as containers for the analysis charts. At the end of the analysis, these graphs and numerical summaries of results are used to draw conclusions and answer questions.

Then comes time to communicate. Often, analysts are not given a lot of time to present their findings. This is where the work of neurobiologist John Medina comes in to play. He advises us to use no more than ten minutes to make our case, lest we bore our audience to inattention. In any event, we must present our findings with as few slides as possible. The analyst looks over the rough graphs produced in analysis, looks at the conclusions, and then asks: “which of these are the most powerful visuals to make the point and underscore conclusions most compellingly?” There are probably no more than three or four such visuals that have to be created. Not created because they are there from the analysis, but recreated or enhanced, to make them more readable to new eyes.

The next step is to create those compelling visuals that tell the story. That’s what these exercises help you do: refine your skills in turning a rough graph into a compelling visual. One way to do that is to refine your “seeing eye.” Can you see what is wrong with a rough chart? What must be done to make it better? How do you improve a chart to make it more compelling? Many issues are very subtle, so it takes work to develop a trained sense of sight. Do the exercises in this book often, and the process will become second nature. As you work through these exercises, you will internalize the observe-analyze-refine process to improve your visuals.

On the Companion Files

The exercises require the analyst to have access to the case study slides and the analysis worksheet template, both of which are contained on the companion disc. These files, as well as video tutorials, for each chapter are also available for download from the publisher by writing to [email protected]. As you learn about the principles explained in the book, you will be prompted to analyze charts created for a business purpose: the promotion of raising the US minimum wage by a government entity. Each principle presented in each of the chapters has a short companion video you may use to understand the ideas further. The video lessons may be found on the disc or by writing to the publisher. If you wish to stream the video rather than download it, there is a document in the companion files with links to all the companion videos to be found on a streaming service. The companion files also include a copy of the slides set used in the exercises and a copy of the analysis checklist used in the book.

Dr. Andres Fortino June 2020

CHAPTER 1

THE LABS

The Lab Exercises

There are eighteen labs, three for each of the six major dimensions of analysis of data visuals in this class. The task for each exercise in the labs is to consider charts from a public presentation created by a US government agency. We evaluate charts using a checklist of the dimensions covered in class looking for what works and does not work. Depending on the results of your analysis, you are then asked to consider what you would do to improve the chart to better align it with each dimension.

We do this for one of the charts in the document and provide an expert opinion solution to compare to your analysis. The opinion is supported by the reasons why the chart was scored that way, as well as opinion on what can be done to improve it. The reader is then guided to analyzing and improving a second chart from the document as additional practice.

The source of the charts is a public historical document provided by the US Government Council of Economic Advisors promoting policy changes to the minimum wage across the United States. The details of this case study and how to use it are discussed in the section entitled The Case Study.

At the end of all labs, there is a final exercise to review the aggregate analysis and final results for the two charts analyzed and provide an overview road map to improve any chart.

The Six Dimensions

We analyze the chart in six dimensions with three aspects each, making a total of eighteen directions of analysis:

Story Dimension

Visual Story

Visual Props

Storytellers

Purpose Dimension

Need

Audience

Frame

Method Dimension

Color

Chart Junk

Title

Sign Dimension

Sign

Communication

Function

Perception Dimension

Seeing

Mind

Quality

Chart Dimension

Right Chart

Selection

Tables

The Exercises

The six labs will help you practice analyzing charts along these six dimensions, with each lab containing six exercises. There are two well-worked-out exercises for each of the eighteen directions of analysis. Make sure to use the analysis template in this lab book. Fill it out as you go along.

Go through Part A of each exercise in the lab and check yourself against the expert’s opinion. Pay particular attention to where you and the expert disagree. Look at why the expert selected the answer they did and their rationale. Also, try to improve the chart along these dimensions. Again, check yourself against the expert’s opinion.

You can reinforce your skills by doing Part B of each exercise based on a second chart, as outlined in the workbook. Once you have completed that, select any other chart in the case study set (see the end of the lab manual for more charts) and repeat for more practice.

Internalizing the Process

Although practitioners wishing to improve their skills in improving charts can continue to use the analysis template after they have completed the labs, this is not the envisioned continued use of the checklist. We propose that you use the analysis template for these labs and get familiar with how to use it, and with the process. Then use it a few more times on actual charts in your everyday work.

Eventually, repeated use of this process and the checklist will result in the internalization of the analysis, and you will no longer need the checklist. Essentially, you are training your eye and your perception to see charts in more and more detail over time. In time you will acquire new strategies to correct anything that seems to need improvement in charts. You will find that you will be asking the questions in the analysis template naturally, answering them, and improving your charts accordingly.

As you use these exercises, you will see your chart-making skills go to the next level.

CHAPTER 2

THE CASE STUDY

The Case Study

The case study is based on a set of slides posted by the executive branch of the United States government, used to promote a certain policy initiative. Early in President Obama’s administration, there was a push to have all states in the union, as well as the federal government, adopt a higher minimum wage level than was prevalent at that time. One of the agencies of the executive branch is the Council of Economic Advisors. They laid out the economic case for raising the minimum wage. This slide set was made available at the time via the White House website to educate the public, policymakers, and lawmakers. We want to see if we can improve the charts in the presentation, which was the chosen communication platform.

Your Task

Read the entire document (it consists mostly of slides, so it’s easy). You will find the material at the end of this lab book. From your reading, you should get a sense of why the document was written. You should also try to discover who the audience is, what the authors are trying to say, and what the authors are trying to accomplish. You should ask these questions: Are the authors trying to inform? To get the audience to take action? What action? To move the audience to support a policy with their representatives? Who are the members of the audience? Who are the authors? What is their profession? Are they authority figures? What are their credentials?

Forming some idea of the answers to these questions informs your understanding of the charts and what they are meant to accomplish. You may be doing a lot of conjecture. That’s understandable and, without better knowledge, we will take that as our starting point of analysis. It’s from that point of view you will be critiquing and improving the charts.

Think of yourself as a staff member of the Council of Economic Advisors, the group that created this presentation. One day you are called into the office of the chief economist, and he (or she) says: “Since you are one of our best data visualization experts on staff, I would like you to look over this document and tell us how we can improve these charts. We want to have the greatest impact on our readers.” That’s the basis of our analysis.

We will analyze some of the charts to see if they can be improved. For that purpose, we will use the scoring tool provided in this lab manual. For each lab, we will accumulate the score for each of the six dimensions in the tool until, after we have finished the last lab, we will have a complete picture of how effective the chart is (or is not). More importantly, when we analyze each of the three dimensions in each lab, we will consider what can be done to improve the chart.

This exercise is intended to refine your power of discrimination so you can spot the flaws in a visual and do something about it.

NOTEYou may reinforce these principles by watching the video tutorials on these topics found in the companion files on the disc or by downloading them from the publisher by writing to [email protected].

CHAPTER 3

THE ANALYSIS TOOL

An Analysis Tool for Visuals