Testing Statistical Graphics

Susan Vanderplas

2023-08-08

Introduction

Why Test Graphics?

Testing Graphics to Communicate Well

Some graphics “just work” - why do you need to test them?

• Do they work for everyone?

• What insights do people gain from the chart? How much variability is there?

• What background knowledge is required?

• What areas of the chart contribute to its’ function?

Testing Graphics to Understand Data

Testing graphics provides insight into the interaction between humans and data

• Graphical hypothesis testing with lineups

• Visual Statistics

• Effective Science Communication:

  • Risk (public health, hurricanes, climate)
  • Legal Evidence weight
  • Information dissemination

Testing Graphics to Understand Statistics

Testing graphics can lead to improved methods

• visualizations for method diagnostics
  feed back into numerical diagnostics

• designing algorithms that mimic human perception

• examining how people understand statistics
  explain new methods in better ways

Why Not Test Graphics?

• People are a PITA (💥➡️🍑)

• Data collection takes time/energy/money

• Analyzing (usually very messy) human data is hard

All of these are true, but it’s still worth doing.

Discussion

Biggest Challenges In Testing Graphics

Most Interesting (Unexpected) Findings

Things You Wish You Knew When You Started

Favorite Tools for Graphics Experiments

Things You Want To Test Next?