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

Gestalt Principle of Enclosure:

When we see objects that are physically enclosed together, we see them as belonging to the same group.

Table 155:Knaflic, 2015, p. 77

Gestalt Principle in Connection:

Adding lines to data points is a great way to understand this principle. Without the lines to help us, we would not even realize that we should see these data points in a trend line.

Table 156: Gestalt Principle in Connection, Rowell, 2020.

Gestalt Principle of Continuation: When we see an intersection between two or more objects (like lines), we tend to perceive each line is a single uninterrupted line (or object).

Table 157: Gestalt Principle: Continuation

Gestalt Principle of Closure:

In Excel, we can produce a line graph complete with background, data points, and chart borders. But a viewer only needs an idea that this is a graph and they will still clearly see the trend. We might need to add the context, but the viewer can clearly see an increase! Another example is the NFP grade chart shown in Chapter 1. You could strip everything away except for the grades and the horizontal bars, and the viewer would understand. But my favorite example of closure is the panda bear logo of the Word Wildlife Fund (WWF).

Table 158: WWF Logo - example of Closure

Table 159: Gestalt Principle of Closure

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