2022 Introduction to Statistics in Research Mitchell 2nd ed

I N T R O T O R E S E A R C H : D A T A V I S U A L I Z A T I O N & C O M M O N S T A T T E S T S

Chapter 5

DataVisualizations in your presentations

You know you’v e achieved perfection, not when you have nothing more to add, but when you have nothing to take away. Antoine de Saint-Exupery, 1943

he format of this chapter is devoted to reviewing existing resources and exploring other inexpensive technologies that support data visualization techniques. Data Visualization is one of my strengths. Although you are tied to an APA style guide, infographics that show a process or even the data visually is a growing trend. This chapter introduces you to the Gestalt principles. Just an FYI: when I defended my dissertation and had visuals in my PowerPoint, my committee asked me multiple times – “Why don’t you put these in your dissertation? It is so much clearer with visuals.” At the time I wrote my dissertation, I didn’t think they were allowed. I assumed that only text was allowed. So, I had a great deal of editing to do before my dissertation was done! T

What is Data Visualization? According to Al Shalloway, “ data visualization acts as a campfire which we gather to tell stories ” (Twitter, Feb 12, 2014) . Probably not what you were expecting right? But have you ever forgotten a story you heard around a campfire? And does the memory, trigger all kinds of senses? According to Pearson-Prentice Hall Publishing, 65 percent of the population consists of visual learners. The setting here is a campfire, but the real art comes in the storytelling. “Storytelling

requires an understanding of your audience, your topic, and your goal” (Dale Carnegie, 2018, p.6 ). And connecting it visually helps your audience remember it. When you are analyzing data in business, the real magic emerges when the user can interact with the visual data, drilling deeper, with more insightful questions. Sometimes, you don’t know all the questions to ask, until you start “playing and analyzing” the data. But when we present, drilling deeper isn’t practical, and most of our images and charts are presented in a static manner. Every organization wants data-driven decisions. But in the information age, we are inundated with tweets, emails, texts, news, social media, news, and Zoom meeting requests. Are there communication techniques for each? Are techniques different for presenting than other communications? So where and how do we start? Let’s start with the basics.

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