• Unit 3: Visualization Principles and Processes

    Have you ever attended a company department or team meeting? While your colleague uploads the PowerPoint presentation, you adjust your seat, take out pen and paper, and get ready to take notes. After the agenda, the next slide displays four data visualizations. The presenter refers to each visualization while discussing business operations, strategic alignment, and new initiatives. You look around the table and notice others taking notes and nodding their heads in agreement. You look down at your paper – and nothing – no notes – not even a doodle. You silently ask yourself, "Where is the connection? How are these visualizations associated with business operations, strategic alignment, and the new initiatives?" Reflecting on that experience, can you see the importance of storytelling with data? Moreover, can you see how important it is to connect the data story succinctly to data visualizations? In the last unit, students learned the importance of storytelling with data – organizing and structuring the narrative flow. In this unit, students will learn the principles and processes of data visualization, including concepts and definitions, design specificity, and usability.

    Completing this unit should take you approximately 4 hours.

    • Upon successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

      • select appropriate visualizations to explore data findings;
      • encode and annotate data visualizations; and
      • evaluate visualization techniques.

    • 3.1: Visualization Concepts and Definitions

      • Data Visualization Page

        The primary goal of data visualization is to communicate information clearly and effectively. It helps users analyze and reason about data and evidence and makes complex data more accessible, understandable, and usable. Read this article to learn how to make more compelling graphics and visualizations.

      • Why Is Data Visualization Important? Page

        Data visualization is a lot more than drawing graphic displays to show data. It requires choosing the right graphic for the audience type to deliver the right message in a readily understandable way. In this article, you will learn why data visualization has become so important and how to use it to deliver your message effectively.

      • Presenting Data in Meaningful and Interesting Ways Page

        Watch this video to learn how to choose the appropriate graphic presentation. Take notes on the recommendations given that support using each type of presentation. Remember, your ability to apply the correct graph or chart improves business presentations and enhances the data-driven decision-making process.

    • 3.2: Interactive Visualizations and Dashboards

      • Data Visualization Page

        For visualizations to be the most effective, they have to be data-driven, clear and accurate, and free of items that may distract the viewer from the message. Watch this video to learn best practices covering all of these different caveats.

      • Interactive Visualization of Refugee Demographics in the U.S. Page

        Interactive visualizations enable the viewer or presenter to drill down into the available data to provide additional insights. Watch this video to see how this is utilized to examine U.S. refugee demographics.

    • 3.3: Challenges in Visualization

      • Visualization in Exploratory Data Analysis Page

        We can use visualizations to analyze a variety of information graphically. Watch this video to explore how this presenter uses visualizations to analyze his work schedule, where he eats, and other regularly occurring practices.

      • Visualizing Big Data with Augmented and Virtual Reality Book

        Summarizing Big Data using visualizations can be very challenging. Read this article to discover how you can apply the capabilities of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality to the field of Big Data Visualization.

      • Describing Data Page

        Data visualization is not an end goal. It is part of the process of gathering, formatting, and analyzing data to create information. Overlooking this process is not advised. Read this article to learn how utilizing the wrong visualization or visualization tool could lead to misleading or incorrect conclusions from the data.

    • Study Guide: Unit 3

      We recommend reviewing this Study Guide before taking the Unit 3 Assessment.

    • Unit 3 Assessment

      • Unit 3 Assessment Quiz
        Receive a grade

        Take this assessment to see how well you understood this unit.

        • This assessment does not count towards your grade. It is just for practice!
        • You will see the correct answers when you submit your answers. Use this to help you study for the final exam!
        • You can take this assessment as many times as you want, whenever you want.