Why You Should Know About Sankey Diagrams

Here’s one more in a series of tips on different chart types. The idea is to fill up your toolbox for making sense of data. This week, I give you the Sankey diagram.

Active Ingredients (What is a Sankey diagram?)

Sankey diagrams use arrows or lines to show flow to and from stages in a process. The wider the arrow or line, the larger the quantity of flow. The arrows or lines may be colored to represent different categories or to show the transition from one stage to another.

Uses

Organizations are full of processes. Sankey diagrams help you to understand the flow of people, money, energy, or other things through a process. The example below shows the flow of undergraduate engineering students at the University of Pennsylvania from their summer internships and jobs to their employment and other experiences post graduation. We can see, for example, that most students who were in technology and financial services post graduation also were in those areas during their junior summer. However, students who started graduate school after graduation from college had a wider variety of experiences during the prior summer.

Source: The Signal

Warnings

Creating a Sankey diagram can be a challenge. You can’t highlight a data table and click “Sankey Diagram” in Excel. There are some programs designed specifically to create Sankey diagrams and others that will create a Sankey diagram with some hacking. Here is a great summary of software options.

Fun Facts

You may have seen Charles Minard's map of Napoleon's Russian Campaign of 1812 which shows dwindling troops across time and space (see image below). It’s a sort of Sankey diagram on top of a map and was created in 1869. However, the chart was named for Matthew Henry Phineas Riall Sankey, an Irish captain who created a chart in 1898 to show the energy efficiency of a steam engine.

Source: Wikimedia

To see past data tips, including those about other chart types, click HERE.

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Let’s talk about YOUR data!

Got the feeling that you and your colleagues would use your data more effectively if you could see it better? Data Viz for Nonprofits (DVN) can help you get the ball rolling with an interactive data dashboard and beautiful charts, maps, and graphs for your next presentation, report, proposal, or webpage. Through a short-term consultation, we can help you to clarify the questions you want to answer and goals you want to track. DVN then visualizes your data to address those questions and track those goals.

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How to Show Problems and Solutions in One Chart

Data visualizations are kind of like beards or kale. They used to be decidedly uncool, but are now hip, at least in certain circles. Yet, even with the rising popularity of charts, maps, and graphs, I think many of us have a faint feeling of aversion when encountering them. For one, they may be hard to decipher. But there’s another problem too. They often are the bearers of bad news. They show us how widespread a problem is or how it’s increasing. Worse, they rarely give us any hope of improvement.

Wouldn’t charts, maps, and graphs be more engaging and helpful if they showed both problems AND solutions? Let’s talk about how to get that done.

Show Two Scenarios

Show the difference between how things play out with and without an intervention or program. The now-famous flatten the curve graph (shown below) did this without any real data. The point was just to show how the number of cases would likely differ with and without public health measures to slow the spread of COVID.

Source: C.T. Bergstrom

Here’s a graph that shows two scenarios with real data. The data point labels are particularly helpful in this example. By comparing two different cities, the graph suggests that a delay in the start of social distancing interventions may have a huge effect on the severity of an outbreak.

Source: Washington Post

Show A Change In The Trend

Another way to present a problem along with a solution is to show how a trend alters following an intervention. This graph shows projected data for several types of interventions: the current policy, alternative policies, and the absence of policies. In the absence of policies, global warming is expected to reach 4.1°C – 4.8°C above pre-industrial levels by the end of the century. Current policies are projected to result in about a 3.0° rise over pre-industrial levels. Other pledges and targets that governments have made would limit warming to even lower amounts.

Source: Climate Action Tracker

This one effectively uses bubble size and color to show a trend alteration following the introduction of the measles vaccine.

Source: Sciencemag.org

On the uncool-to-very-cool spectrum, data visualizations that show both problems and solutions are very cool. To see what other things are cool/uncool check out CoolnessGraphed.com.

To see past data tips, including those about other chart types, click HERE.

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Let’s talk about YOUR data!

Got the feeling that you and your colleagues would use your data more effectively if you could see it better? Data Viz for Nonprofits (DVN) can help you get the ball rolling with an interactive data dashboard and beautiful charts, maps, and graphs for your next presentation, report, proposal, or webpage. Through a short-term consultation, we can help you to clarify the questions you want to answer and goals you want to track. DVN then visualizes your data to address those questions and track those goals.

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How To Use Big A** Numbers

You already know about BANs even if you don’t think you do. They are Big Ass Numbers meant to catch your attention. You see them everywhere these days, featured in bold fonts on websites, brochures, and reports; sprinkled throughout PowerPoint presentations; and arrayed as KPIs* in data dashboards.

BANs are having a moment. And they can be powerful. But watch out for overdoing it. When lots of BANs crowd a single display, they steal each other’s limelight and bewilder the audience. Anyone who gives a BAN a moment’s thought might wonder: “Wow, 5,000 meals sounds like a lot, but what is the need? What do similar organizations provide?”

So use BANs sparingly and give them space so they can shine. Also, provide context when possible: “5,000 meals served and no one turned away.”

Steve Wexler also advises using one or two BANs when they provide a good overall summary of a lot of data and when they clarify and provide context for subsequent charts, maps, and graphs.

And for some great ways to design BANs, check out Adam McCann’s 20 Ways to Visualize KPIs.

See other data tips in this series for more information on how to effectively visualize and make good use of your organization's data. 

*key performance indicators

The Ingredient Missing From Your Website

If the internet is a street, and websites are storefronts, then homepages are the window displays. Effective displays give you the gist of the organization and lure you in. When I stroll down nonprofit lane, I rarely see displays featuring data visualizations (aka data viz) like charts, maps, and graphs. That makes sense, right? Data viz lacks the visceral appeal of photos. Images of a child receiving medical care, a homeless adult eating a meal, or a home being rebuilt after a hurricane are more compelling than a chart.

I get that. But there’s a missed opportunity here. Prominently-displayed, well-designed data viz provides something that photos cannot. Context. Charts, maps, and graphs can quickly show website visitors the critical context that they cannot see in a photo, such as how prevalent a problem is, where it is occurring, or the impact of a program over time.

Recently, I did a little review of the 12 sites that won a Web Award in 2019 for best in industry or outstanding website in the nonprofit category. I expected that these sites would be better than most when it came to featuring data viz. I gave myself three minutes to review each site. And I awarded 2 points for data viz on their homepage, 2 points for data viz on their work/impact page,* and 1 point for data viz on any other page that I could visit in the balance of my three-minute tour. My definition of data viz was not strict. I counted any display of data not described in text or presented in a table. BANs (Big Ass Numbers), timelines, and flowcharts counted. (See the results in the chart below.)

The data viz situation in these sites was even worse than I expected. I found:

• Only two of the twelve sites had data viz on their homepages.

• Five of the sites had no data viz that could be found in three minutes.

• The vizes I found were: 3 BANs, 2 maps, 1 timeline, and 1 flowchart, none of which provided a wealth of insight.

To make your website stand out, even among award-winning sites, consider prominently displaying a variety of data visualizations (not just BANs). Visualizations can provide the necessary context to bring both problems and solutions into greater focus.

One last thing before we go. I give the best-content-not-related-to-data-viz award to the website called “Get In Touch With Your Testes With Nad & Tad.” See Grab Your Balls And Check Out These Videos on the homepage. It’s a must-see.

To see past data tips, including those about other chart types, click HERE.

*Work/impact page: any page on menu bar describing their work and/or impact

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Let’s talk about YOUR data!

Got the feeling that you and your colleagues would use your data more effectively if you could see it better? Data Viz for Nonprofits (DVN) can help you get the ball rolling with an interactive data dashboard and beautiful charts, maps, and graphs for your next presentation, report, proposal, or webpage. Through a short-term consultation, we can help you to clarify the questions you want to answer and goals you want to track. DVN then visualizes your data to address those questions and track those goals.

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Why Our Brains Glitch On COVID Data And Why Nonprofits Should Take Notice

I’ve said it before. It’s not enough to present data clearly and beautifully. If we want the brains of our staff members, board members, policymakers, donors, and clients to absorb data AND use it for decision-making, we have to present it in brain-friendly ways. And brain-friendly means avoiding common brain glitches. I’ve talked about how our brains glitch when dealing with small numbers.

The pandemic has brought to the fore another known issue with our brains. They glitch when confronted with exponential growth. And, as a result, we make the wrong decisions. The good news is that we can learn from this problem. And this learning can benefit our causes and organizations well past the pandemic. Let me walk you through this in the remaining 50 seconds.

We default to LINEAR not EXPONENTIAL growth. Linear growth means that something is growing by the same amount at each time step. Your hair, for example, grows about a half inch each month. Exponential growth is different. It means that something is growing in proportion to its current value, such as doubling at each time step.

Here’s a common example that reveals the glitch: Would you prefer to receive:

1. $1,000 a day for the next 30 days or

2. 1 cent on the first day, 2 cents on the second day, 4 cents on the third day, 8 cents on the fourth day and so on for 30 days?

Given a short time to consider, most folks choose option 1 in which the linear growth results in $30,000. But in option 2, the exponential growth results in over $5 million!

Most of us have heard that COVID grows at an exponential rate. And we probably understand what that means: if one person infects two others and then each of those people infect two others, the number of infections is doubling at each time step. But we fail to appreciate the impact of exponential growth and thus fail to choose the wisest actions when faced with an exponential growth problem or opportunity. For example, there is evidence that those who underestimate the effect of exponential growth on the spread of the virus are less likely to take precautions like social distancing and wearing masks.

We can (sometimes) overcome the glitch with a nudge. There is also evidence that simple nudges can help people to better estimate the impact of exponential growth. Nudges can include showing raw numbers instead of graphs or reminding people that the number of cases doubles at each step rather than grows at a constant rate or asking people to do the math to more clearly see the effect of doubling. It’s important to note, however, that there is also research suggesting that our brains can be pretty resistant corrections.

What does this mean for your organization? Exponential growth crops up in regular, non-pandemic life more often than you’d think. If your organization is dealing with issues as diverse as food spoilage, human population growth, invasive species, forest fires, or cancer, then you need a way to effectively communicate exponential growth. To deal with this glitch you can:

• Turn to the research. Look for studies that tested ways to correct glitches and then apply the effective ones to your work.

• Test your data presentations before they go live. It may sound simple, but it’s a step few of us take. Identify a few people with a similar level of expertise in the subject matter and data as those in your target audience. Then ask them what they think the data in your presentation shows. Perhaps show them a few versions of the same data in different types of charts or tables and see which ones are easiest to process quickly and accurately. But don’t stop there. Ask what actions they might consider based on their interpretations. Then use their responses to revise and test again.

• Ask rather than tell. You can engage your stakeholders while also nudging them toward greater understanding. Ask them how soon they think a particular problem will grow to a particular size if left unchecked. If their answer is off the mark, you’ve got their attention. Now explain how the problem is growing exponentially.

To see past data tips, click HERE.

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Let’s talk about YOUR data!

Got the feeling that you and your colleagues would use your data more effectively if you could see it better? Data Viz for Nonprofits (DVN) can help you get the ball rolling with an interactive data dashboard and beautiful charts, maps, and graphs for your next presentation, report, proposal, or webpage. Through a short-term consultation, we can help you to clarify the questions you want to answer and goals you want to track. DVN then visualizes your data to address those questions and track those goals.

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How To Show Your Organization's Pre- and Post-COVID Data

It’s time to reconsider your plans for showing progress in 2020. The chart, map, or graph you planned to use on your website, in your annual report, or at the quarterly board meeting may no longer apply or may tell the wrong story. The lives of those you serve and the way you serve them probably have changed. The question is: how can you show progress and provide enough context so that viewers get it right and get it quickly. Below are some ideas. If your organization has come up with other solutions, please let me know, and I’ll share them in a future data tip.

1. Distinguish pre- and post-COVID periods

This is the simplest solution. Make sure to distinguish the COVID period in your charts using color, shading, borders, and captions. Viewers will expect to see differences between pre- and post-COVID periods. So show them where to apply these different expectations.

2. Emphasize COVID period

You might consider emphasizing the COVID period by enlarging it and showing an adjusted goal for this time. Even if your service capacity has decreased, you could be doing well compared to adjusted goals.

3. Discourage pre/post comparisons

In some cases, you may want to discourage pre- and post-COVID comparisons given how much circumstances have changed. You might show only the COVID period, perhaps along with an adjusted goal reference line.

4. Focus on adaptation over time

Although some programs and services may have come to a screeching halt, others may have ramped up speedily. There are plenty of ways to show these changes in charts that clearly distinguish both periods.

To see past data tips, including those about other chart types, click HERE.

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Let’s talk about YOUR data!

Got the feeling that you and your colleagues would use your data more effectively if you could see it better? Data Viz for Nonprofits (DVN) can help you get the ball rolling with an interactive data dashboard and beautiful charts, maps, and graphs for your next presentation, report, proposal, or webpage. Through a short-term consultation, we can help you to clarify the questions you want to answer and goals you want to track. DVN then visualizes your data to address those questions and track those goals.

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When Is Nothing Something You Should Show?

Data visualization is all about making what’s invisible or not-immediately-perceptible in the outside world visible and clear. You can’t see the range and strength of your clients’ feelings about the programs you offer, but you can show them on a chart. You can’t see the impact of air pollution across thousands of miles from where you stand, but you can see it on a map. In both of these examples, data visualizations show the presence of something. Can they also show the absence of something? And when is nothing something you really should show?

In last week’s data tip, I shared this cartoon which I love because it makes the absence of something — COVID cases averted by individual actions — perceptible with gray lines and dots. That got me thinking about how we visualize the absence of things in charts, maps, and graphs.

See animated version of the cartoon here.

A common problem in almost any endeavor involving data is “missing data.” This is data that was not collected because, for example, a respondent skipped a survey question or someone did not fill in a data field in a database. And often missing data is eliminated from charts, maps, and graphs. We don’t show what we don’t know. But that can be a mistake, especially when the majority of data is missing such as in this pie chart. By showing the amount of unknown and missing values, it emphasizes the need for better data collection so that we can understand which groups are most affected.

source: WBUR

These maps (from March 2020) stress the absence of certain policies rather than the presence of them.

source: Politico

The colors gray or white often are used to signify the absence of something. But this chart uses green to draw your attention to the times when NONE of Britain’s power was generated by coal, presumably helping to make for a greener environment.

source: The Guardian

Zero points on axes also help to show the absence of something. This chart emphasizes the point on the X-axis representing no bias with a red line.

source: The Economist

Consider what absences may be instructive to your staff, board members, funders, clients, or participants. Perhaps it’s the absence of data or the absence of revenue or the absence of problems following an intervention or the absence of essential services in a community. Remember showing nothing can be just as enlightening as showing something.

To see past data tips, including those about other chart types, click HERE.

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Let’s talk about YOUR data!

Got the feeling that you and your colleagues would use your data more effectively if you could see it better? Data Viz for Nonprofits (DVN) can help you get the ball rolling with an interactive data dashboard and beautiful charts, maps, and graphs for your next presentation, report, proposal, or webpage. Through a short-term consultation, we can help you to clarify the questions you want to answer and goals you want to track. DVN then visualizes your data to address those questions and track those goals.

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Why Your Donors, Volunteers, and Activists Ignore Data

(And What You Can Learn From The Pandemic)

Here are three things we are seeing a lot of these days:

1. Charts, maps, and graphs showing increasing COVID cases in many parts of the country,

2. Appeals to the public to wear masks and social distance when out in public, and

3. People out in public NOT wearing masks and not social distancing.

What gives? I talk a lot about using data viz to shorten the journey from data to action. And, indeed, it can reduce travel times by bringing into focus the message behind the data. But even when our audience clears this first hurdle of understanding what the data show, they confront other hurdles that delay or prevent effective action. These hurdles are likely behind rising COVID cases, and they are likely behind challenges at your organization.

A May 2020 article in Nature Human Behaviour sheds some light on different types of barriers between data and action. A few obstacles that are pertinent to nonprofit organizations are:

• Fear. Those rising COVID slopes can evoke fear. So can data that your organization shares to raise funds, get volunteers, or spur activism (on violence, hunger, health needs, etc. ) Research findings suggest that fear only leads to behavior change when people feel capable of dealing with the threat. Otherwise, it can shut down action. So those rising slopes may be more effective when coupled with information that increases viewers’ sense of efficacy in the face of the problem such as: “Your donation of $100 will provide 50 meals to families in need.”

• Perceived Norms. You’ve heard it before. We are social animals and are keenly affected by the behavior of others. However, research shows we often are wrong about what other folks are doing. So even if we see the danger in charts, we may do the wrong thing to match our perception of the social norm. In this situation, we need some information to correct our perceptions. For example, charts showing that most people are wearing masks or that those whom we admire are wearing masks can help. Similarly, we can show potential donors, volunteers, and activists what others are doing or giving to prompt action.

• Individual Interest. Fighting a pandemic, reducing poverty, addressing climate change, among other aims, require each of us to bear an individual cost for the common good. Charts may suggest how dire the situation is, but it’s hard to relate these big issues to our daily behaviors. We feel the effects of our individual sacrifices, but the impact of those sacrifices on the larger community is harder to perceive — particularly when the impact is invisible because it’s a problem that has been prevented. Research suggests that we can overcome individual interests by providing cues that make the morality of an individual action more clear. Check out this brilliant cartoon which shows COVID cases averted with gray lines. Consider how your organization can show your stakeholders how their (in)actions affect the wider community.

See animated version of the cartoon here.

To see past data tips, including those about other chart types, click HERE.

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Let’s talk about YOUR data!

Got the feeling that you and your colleagues would use your data more effectively if you could see it better? Data Viz for Nonprofits (DVN) can help you get the ball rolling with an interactive data dashboard and beautiful charts, maps, and graphs for your next presentation, report, proposal, or webpage. Through a short-term consultation, we can help you to clarify the questions you want to answer and goals you want to track. DVN then visualizes your data to address those questions and track those goals.

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Beware of This Brain Glitch When Using Data

Next time your computer spits out an error message, take a moment to thank it. At least your computer knows when a glitch has occurred. Not so with your brain. You can encounter a system error in your brain without ever knowing it.

If you’re interested, there’s plenty to read about brain glitches. A classic article by Tversky and Kahneman in Science back in 1974 does a great job of describing glitches that get us into trouble when making decisions about uncertain events. Since our brains do not send out error messages, the best we can do is to be aware of potential glitches so that we can avoid drawing the wrong conclusion and then acting on it.

Today, I’m just going to mention just one that any smallish nonprofit should know about. I think you’ll appreciate this glitch more if I can reproduce it in your brain right now. Tversky and Kahneman provide a great example that may do the trick:

“A certain town is served by two hospitals. In the larger hospital about 45 babies are born each day, and in the smaller hospital about 15 babies are born each day. As you know, about 50 percent of all babies are boys. However, the exact percentage varies from day to day. Sometimes it may be higher than 50 percent, sometimes lower. For a period of 1 year, each hospital recorded the days on which more than 60 percent of the babies born were boys.” Which hospital do you think recorded more such days: the larger hospital, the smaller hospital, or do you think they recorded about the same number of days? (Let your brain produce an answer and then scroll down.)

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If your brain said: “about the same number of days” then you’ve encountered a common glitch. We know, in the general population, about 50 percent of babies are born with the sex of male. You are more likely to see this 50/50 split in large groups (aka “samples”) than in small groups because larger groups more closely represent the entire population. Thinking about coin tosses often helps to correct glitches. If you toss a coin just 6 times, you are more likely to get a lopsided result (such as 4 heads and 2 tails) than if you toss it 60 times.

Nonprofits often deal with small groups. This can lead to errors. For example, you may go astray by:

• Planning for what’s needed for a large program based on the experience of a small pilot program.

• Projecting what the needs of a certain group may be over a longer period of time based on the needs of a group over a shorter period of time.

• Applying “evidence based practices” based on studies of large groups to your smaller group of clients which may differ in key ways from the large group.

In summary, beware of small numbers when predicting and planning.

To see past data tips, click HERE.

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Let’s talk about YOUR data!

Got the feeling that you and your colleagues would use your data more effectively if you could see it better? Data Viz for Nonprofits (DVN) can help you get the ball rolling with an interactive data dashboard and beautiful charts, maps, and graphs for your next presentation, report, proposal, or webpage. Through a short-term consultation, we can help you to clarify the questions you want to answer and goals you want to track. DVN then visualizes your data to address those questions and track those goals.

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Covid Haircuts vs. Covid Charts, Which Are Worse? (And What Can We Learn From Them?)

Image sources: crafty.diply.com, cancerletter.com

Remember the old TV warning: Don’t try this at home? Well, many of us are home right now. And we are trying lots of new stuff. Like cutting our own hair or visualizing data. Both can be dangerous.

We’ve already talked about the limitations of COVID data and the importance of both broadcasting limitations when presenting data and seeking out such disclaimers when consuming data in any format. Charts, maps, and graphs attempting to show the severity of the pandemic across time and location run into many difficulties including differences in population sizes and densities, testing rates, and reporting policies of various states and countries. The result is a likely misrepresentation of reality. (For more on this, see The Covid Tracking Project at the Atlantic’s Visualization Guide.)

The misrepresentation can be even more severe when visualizations distort the data. Much of the distortion, intentional or otherwise, occurs along the X and Y axes.* So when designing or reading charts, pay attention to:

1. The order of values along the axes

Source:cancerletter.com

This graph, from the Georgia Department of Public Health's website, is now infamous. The original chart (see “Before” image) did not present the dates along the X-axis in chronological order. Moreover, the bars, which each represent a different county, were presented in different orders on different dates. The result “seemed to bend both time and place to achieve a clean descending-staircase effect,” wrote Morgan McFall-Johnsen at The Business Insider on May 17, 2020. The corrected version was later posted and, as you can see, told a different story. When presenting values that have an inherent order, such as dates, we should present them in that order such as earlier to later or lower to higher.

2. The span of values along the axes

It’s easy enough to choose the part of a chart that tells the story you want to tell and just omit the rest. So when you see a trend over time, always check the X-axis to see the span of time covered. If relevant time periods are not included, find out why.

3. The range of values along the axes

The lowest point on an axis is called the “origin.” It’s where the Y and X axes intersect. Much has been written about the importance of starting the Y-axis at zero because, when you don’t, you can make a small difference look like a big one. See the two bar charts here for a case in point.

4. The aggregation of values along the axes

When you combine values by computing sums, averages, counts, etc., it's called aggregating. The way values are aggregated along the axes can significantly affect the way the data look. For example, when using date values, consider how detailed of a story you want to tell. Do you want to show general trends or is it important to show the volatility over shorter intervals of time? The charts below show the same data at different levels of aggregation: week totals, month totals, and quarter totals.

To see past data tips, click HERE.

*What is an axis (plural: axes)?

Data visualizations, like charts, maps, and graphs, often use position to show the value of something. They usually do this using an intersecting X-axis (a horizontal line) and a Y-axis (a vertical line). Each axis shows a particular type of measurement such as dates, dollars, or miles or particular categories or groups. Lines, bars, or other shapes are positioned according to these measures and categories.

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Let’s talk about YOUR data!

Got the feeling that you and your colleagues would use your data more effectively if you could see it better? Data Viz for Nonprofits (DVN) can help you get the ball rolling with an interactive data dashboard and beautiful charts, maps, and graphs for your next presentation, report, proposal, or webpage. Through a short-term consultation, we can help you to clarify the questions you want to answer and goals you want to track. DVN then visualizes your data to address those questions and track those goals.

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What’s Missing From Your Social Media Posts

You aren’t deploying data viz. When I peruse nonprofit posts, I mostly see:

• Bad photos,

• Headshots,

• Stock images (only some of which clearly relate to the text), or

• No image at all.

Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are like crowded highways packed with billboards. If we add charts, maps, and graphs to our billboards, we can both grab attention and say something meaningful. But the image and message should be simple and clear to travelers zooming by.

What types of vizes work best? Here are four to consider.

1. Maps

If the map shows a geography we know like the U.S. or our own city, we have a lot of prior knowledge that we can apply. This makes maps easy to digest on the fly. We look for our own location. We compare east to west or cities to rural areas. Consider showing the distribution of the need you are addressing, the location of your clientele, or where you are providing services using a map.

Source: tennessean.com, image: feedingamerica.org

2. BANs (Big Ass Numbers)

Just one large number can capture attention. The BANs shown here are from Women Will, a Google initiative focused on economic empowerment for women. They won a Shorty Award, which honors the best content creators on social media. Think about what single number you might share that could spark interest in your work. Add a link from your BAN post to a chart that provides more context and detail for that number.

Source: shortyawards.com

3. Line graph showing a clear trend

Line graphs are familiar. Many show change over time. So if we make it clear what is changing (here it’s number of deaths) and over what period of time, we can tell a quick and powerful story without much more than an angled line. But keep it simple with only one line or multiple lines but only one highlighted in color and the rest grayed out. Consider showing how the need for your services or your impact has changed over time.

source: informationisbeautiful.net

4. Bar chart showing a clear comparison

Bar charts also are trusted friends. We get them. When deploying bar charts, use color strategically to encourage a comparison of a target group to the others. This post from the World Wildlife Fund is a follow-up to an earlier post which asked followers a question. This post gives them the answer in a simple bar chart and shows them what percent of followers guessed each answer (see numbers on the right.)

Source: shortyawards.com                                 i.    

To see past data tips, including those about other chart types, click HERE.

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Let’s talk about YOUR data!

Got the feeling that you and your colleagues would use your data more effectively if you could see it better? Data Viz for Nonprofits (DVN) can help you get the ball rolling with an interactive data dashboard and beautiful charts, maps, and graphs for your next presentation, report, proposal, or webpage. Through a short-term consultation, we can help you to clarify the questions you want to answer and goals you want to track. DVN then visualizes your data to address those questions and track those goals.

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Managing Amid Uncertainty: What You Can Know and Show

Does your organization feel like the guy in the picture above? Heretofore, you and your colleagues have been climbing a challenging mountain. The journey has been daunting at times but despite occasional setbacks, your trend has been upward. And just as you were ready to take on the next steep incline, you encounter a cliff — or at least what feels like a cliff. The path ahead is foggy and uncertain.

How to deal with the uncertainty that the pandemic had brought into most aspects of life, including our work? One response is to try to bring the present and possible future into focus through charts, maps, and graphs. “In many ways, data visualization has been instrumental to how we’re processing COVID-19,” writes Stephen Gossett at Built In. “The Washington Post’s animated-dots simulation became the paper’s most-viewed article ever.” But Gossett goes on to describe the dangers of visualizing uncertain data. As I wrote in an earlier data tip on “Low-CAL” data, data visualizations can make situations appear more certain than they actually are. We should look for the fine print that describes Context, Assumptions, and Limitations and be wary of visualizations that lack this information.

So what can you confidently know and show about your organization now?

• Your past efficacy or impact. It’s a good time to dust off old charts. Or better yet, revive past data with new and improved visualizations that show your staff, board, and current and prospective supporters how well you have done in the past and thus how worthy of investment your organization is.

• Your ability to adapt. For extra credit, show your stakeholders how well you have adapted to changes in the past, particularly unexpected ones. Show in charts how you resurged after a cut in public funding or how you built new programs to address unexpected needs in your community.

• Your current efforts. Show how much money and person hours you have invested, how many people you have served, how many funds you have raised, or how you have redirected resources to new programs.

Even amid all of the uncertainty, there are some “known knowns” (in the words of former US Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld). While we are waiting for the “known unknowns” and the “unknown unknowns” to come into focus, we can move forward by showing what we do know.

 To see past data tips, including those about other chart types, click HERE.

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Let’s talk about YOUR data!

Got the feeling that you and your colleagues would use your data more effectively if you could see it better? Data Viz for Nonprofits (DVN) can help you get the ball rolling with an interactive data dashboard and beautiful charts, maps, and graphs for your next presentation, report, proposal, or webpage. Through a short-term consultation, we can help you to clarify the questions you want to answer and goals you want to track. DVN then visualizes your data to address those questions and track those goals.

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A Cure For Bad Charts

Hey Everyone: This week’s quick tip is to check out “Great Graphs: Design Principles,” another excellent course from Ann Emery. This is the only week of the entire year that you can register. Registration ends this Friday, May 1, 2020. Click HERE for more info and to register. And stay tuned for another 60-second data tip on an interesting type of chart coming soon!

Beware of Low-CAL Data During Pandemics (And Always)

We are all trying to make sense of how we got here and how we are going to get out — often with the aid of numbers and charts. The most common coronavirus numbers and charts fall into two categories: 1) those with actual data, which is often limited, and 2) those that predict what might happen based on assumptions. Many of the numbers and charts I’ve come across have reminded me of the dangers of Low-CAL data which is any data presentation that is low on clearly articulated: Context, Assumptions, and Limitations. Let’s talk about each one:

Context: Listening to President Trump’s daily briefings, I am reminded of the appeal of BANs (big ass numbers). Trump uses them a lot. For example, on March 23rd, he said that FEMA is distributing 8 million N95 respirator masks and 13.3 million surgical masks across the country. Sounds like a lot, but is it? Numbers, by themselves, have no inherent meaning. You have to put them in context. How does the supply compare to the need?

Assumptions: We make predictions about the future using assumptions which are based on currently available data and data about similar situations in the past or in other places. It’s the best we can do. That’s fine. But the assumptions and the rationale for the assumptions need to be clearly stated. For example, some predictions assume that the spread of the virus will slow down during the summer, but at the time of writing, we do not know how safe that assumption is.

Limitations: The data we have about the coronavirus is limited at the time of writing. We do not fully understand what factors promote or impede the spread of the virus nor do we fully understand how widespread it is. Many sick people have not been tested making it impossible to calculate a reliable death rate (number of deaths caused by the virus divided by the total number of cases.) Most data sets have limitations. To fully appreciate the implications of data, we must know what those limitations are.

Scholarly journals require that authors clarify context, assumptions, and limitations. But websites, tweets, blog posts, newspaper and magazine articles do not. I urge you to be a smart consumer on the lookout for Low-CAL data presentations. And when presenting data yourself, consider adding something akin to the drug facts label you find on medications to your charts, graphs, and maps. Somewhere in or near your data presentation include information on context, assumptions, and limitations so that viewers fully understand what the presentation does and does not show.

To see past data tips, including those about other chart types, click HERE.

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Let’s talk about YOUR data!

Got the feeling that you and your colleagues would use your data more effectively if you could see it better? Data Viz for Nonprofits (DVN) can help you get the ball rolling with an interactive data dashboard and beautiful charts, maps, and graphs for your next presentation, report, proposal, or webpage. Through a short-term consultation, we can help you to clarify the questions you want to answer and goals you want to track. DVN then visualizes your data to address those questions and track those goals.

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Why You Should Know About Pictogram Charts

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This is the seventh in a series of tips on different chart types. The idea is to fill up your toolbox with various types of charts for making sense of data. This week, I give you the pictogram chart.

Active Ingredients (What is a pictogram chart?)

Pictogram charts use icons instead of bars or circles, usually to show how many units are in a group. Probably the most common icon is the stick figure used to represent a person or a group of people (e.g. each stick figure represents 100 people.)

Uses

Pictogram charts can be useful when bars or circles just seem too abstract, and you want to emphasize that you are talking about people, animals, apartment buildings, or whatever it is that you are measuring. Pictogram charts also come in handy when you want to clarify confusing statistics. Back in data tip #77, I used the pictogram chart below to compare the attendance of students in classrooms with attendance monitors to the attendance of students in classrooms without monitors, assuming 10 students per class. The chart was designed to clarify this statement: “54% more students with monitors improved attendance than students without monitors.” That sounds like a lot until you look at the chart below. The 54% stat is a “relative difference,” which is calculated as the absolute difference divided by the “standard” which, in this case, is the class without monitors. So 4.0 minus 2.6 divided by 2.6 or .54, which when expressed as a percentage is 54%. But the chart makes it clear that we are talking about 4 students vs. 2.6 students, which sounds much less impressive than 54%.

Warnings

Avoid showing too many icons. They are hard to count. Remember that one icon can represent a larger number. Also, don’t display partial icons. If you need to show a number with a decimal, consider showing the whole icon and coloring in just part of it, as in the example above.

Fun Fact

You can find free icons to use in pictogram charts at The Noun Project or at Flaticon.

To see past data tips, including those about other chart types, click HERE.

Let’s talk about YOUR data!

Got the feeling that you and your colleagues would use your data more effectively if you could see it better? Data Viz for Nonprofits (DVN) can help you get the ball rolling with an interactive data dashboard and beautiful charts, maps, and graphs for your next presentation, report, proposal, or webpage. Through a short-term consultation, we can help you to clarify the questions you want to answer and goals you want to track. DVN then visualizes your data to address those questions and track those goals.

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Why You Should Know About Gantt Charts

This is the sixth in a series of tips on different chart types. The idea is to fill up your toolbox with different charts to make better sense of data. This week, I give you the gantt chart.

Active Ingredients (What is a gantt chart?)

A gantt chart shows the start and end date of a list of activities or tasks. Each row represents a task and each column represents a time period. Here is a gantt chart I made for Thanksgiving. In this case, the tasks are dishes. I used color to show different stages (preparation, cooking, refrigeration, and reheating) for each dish.

Here’s a gantt chart that may be closer to something you’d want to create for your organization:

Uses

Gantt charts provide a great way to show the different components or tasks in a project or program, how long each task is going to take, which tasks precede or follow others, and which tasks occur simultaneously. In the Thanksgiving chart, I was particularly interested in which dishes would be cooking at the same time since I have limited space in my oven. Similarly, a gantt chart can clarify if you have enough staff and other resources to conduct simultaneous tasks. You might consider adding a reference line to show the current date, shading portions of the bars to show what is completed and what is left to do, or adding arrows to show which tasks are dependent on each other.

Warnings

As with so many chart types, they can get overly complex and difficult to read. So keep the overall gantt chart simple to give a view of the entire project. If you need to show more detail, you can make related charts that zoom in on subtasks for each of the major tasks on the overall chart. Also, remember to update your gantt chart as timelines and tasks change.

Fun Fact

The gantt chart is named for its inventor, Henry Laurence Gantt, a disciple of Frederick Taylor, the great promoter of scientific management in the early 20th century.

To see past data tips, including those about other chart types, click HERE.

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Let’s talk about YOUR data!

Got the feeling that you and your colleagues would use your data more effectively if you could see it better? Data Viz for Nonprofits (DVN) can help you get the ball rolling with an interactive data dashboard and beautiful charts, maps, and graphs for your next presentation, report, proposal, or webpage. Through a short-term consultation, we can help you to clarify the questions you want to answer and goals you want to track. DVN then visualizes your data to address those questions and track those goals.

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Can spreadsheets actually be fun?

Hey Everyone: This week’s quick tip is to check out Ann Emery’s excellent course on extracting the full power of spreadsheets. This is the only week of the entire year that you can register. Registration ends this Friday. See more information below and stay tuned for another 60-second data tip on an interesting type of chart coming soon!

Simple Spreadsheets: From Spreadsheet Stress to Superstardom

Data Analysis Techniques & Time-Saving Secrets for Busy Number-Crunchers

What We’ll Cover: 14+ Hours of Content--The Equivalent of Taking a 2- to 3-Day Workshop

We’ll go broad and deep. You’ll learn about everything from concatenate to sparklines to pivot tables to vlookup. There’s even an entire bonus module on data visualization! You’ll get access to 14+ hours of training, which is the equivalent of participating in a 2- or 3-day workshop.

This online course is all about data analysis time-savers. Spreadsheet skills are the foundation of good data visualization. You need to be able to pour through huge datasets and find the gems that are worthy of visualizing. You need to manipulate your tables, rows, and columns to get formatted juuuuuust right. And most importantly, you need to be able to analyze data quickly and without mistakes.

Registration Period for Simple Spreadsheets

This data analysis course is *only* open for enrollment between Monday, February 24th and Friday, February 28. When it's open, it's open. When it's closed, it's closed.

LEARN MORE AND ENROLL HERE!

You’ll be on your way from spreadsheet stress to superstardom in no time.

Why You Should Know About Bullet Graphs

This is the fifth in a series of tips on different chart types. The idea is to fill up your toolbox with various charts to make better sense of your data. This week, I give you the bullet graph.

Active Ingredients (What is a bullet graph?)

A bullet graph is a bar chart with context. In the example below, the orange bars show the number of enrollees in the Child Health Plus Program in five New York counties. The black vertical lines and the gray bars provide context. Each black vertical line shows the (fictional) goal for each county. The dark gray shaded bars show 60 percent of the goal, and the light gray bars show 80 percent of the goal. So we can see that Queens has surpassed its goal whereas Kings hasn’t reached its goal but has surpassed the 80 percent mark. These gray bars are called “performance ranges” and can be any amount that makes sense for the data and organization. Sometimes these ranges are labeled poor, average, and great.

Data source: https://healthdata.gov/dataset/child-health-plus-program-enrollment-county-and-insurer-beginning-2009

Uses

Charting your data allows you to see the overall picture, patterns, and trends in your data. But without context, it’s difficult to really understand the implications of your data: where do you need to invest more time and resources, which groups might serve as models for others, etc. Bullet charts provide that context. You can quickly see which groups are meeting, exceeding, or falling below goals and by how much.

Warnings

As with bar charts, it’s usually best to display your bars in descending or ascending order. And use a limited number of performance ranges, usually no more than three.

Fun Fact

Data viz guru, Stephen Few, invented the bullet graph as an alternative to dashboard gauges and meters.

To see past data tips, including those about other chart types, click HERE.

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Let’s talk about YOUR data!

Got the feeling that you and your colleagues would use your data more effectively if you could see it better? Data Viz for Nonprofits (DVN) can help you get the ball rolling with an interactive data dashboard and beautiful charts, maps, and graphs for your next presentation, report, proposal, or webpage. Through a short-term consultation, we can help you to clarify the questions you want to answer and goals you want to track. DVN then visualizes your data to address those questions and track those goals.

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Why You Should Know About Histograms

This is the fourth in a series of tips on different chart types. The idea is to fill up your toolbox with a variety of charts for making sense of data. This week, I give you the histogram.

Active Ingredients (What is a histogram?)

Histograms look like bar charts. Along the X-axis are “bins,” which each represent a range of values. The Y-axis shows how many units fall into each bin (as long as bins are equally spaced. See warning below.)

Uses

A quick look at a histogram shows you where values are concentrated, what the highest and lowest values are, and whether there are any gaps or unusual values. As such, histograms provide a snapshot of the shape and distribution of the data. Histograms are a great way to get to know your data and give you a much clearer picture than a simple average of your values would.

The series of histograms below provides a snapshot of how 87 students are doing in school. We can see that:

• Absences, referrals*, and F grades are all relatively rare. A lot of kids fall into the zero bin.

• Although missing assignments were also less common, most kids had some.

• Reading and math test scores (MAP) were more “normally distributed” meaning lots of scores concentrated in the middle of the range, with the remaining scores trailing off symmetrically on both sides.

Source: http://www.storytellingwithdata.com/blog/2019/2/21/various-views-of-variability

Warnings

If you make your bins too big or too small, it will be difficult to see the underlying pattern of the data. There’s no rule of thumb about how to size your bins. Play around with it to see what makes the overall pattern clear.

Technically, histograms are based on the area, not the height, of bars. The height of the bar does not necessarily show how many units there are within each bin. Instead, the height times the width of the bin gives you the number of units in the bin. However, most histograms that I run across have a standard sized bin, and under these circumstances, the height of the bin does reflect the number of units.

Fun Fact

Histogram = histos (Greek for mast) + gram (Greek for something written or recorded). So maybe the term was applied because the chart looks like a row of masts.

*I assume this means discipline referrals.

To see past data tips, including those about other chart types, click HERE.

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Let’s talk about YOUR data!

Got the feeling that you and your colleagues would use your data more effectively if you could see it better? Data Viz for Nonprofits (DVN) can help you get the ball rolling with an interactive data dashboard and beautiful charts, maps, and graphs for your next presentation, report, proposal, or webpage. Through a short-term consultation, we can help you to clarify the questions you want to answer and goals you want to track. DVN then visualizes your data to address those questions and track those goals.

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Why You Should Know About Treemaps

This is the third in a series of tips on different chart types. The idea is to fill up your toolbox with a range of charts for making sense of data. This week, I give you the treemap.

Active Ingredients (What is a treemap?)

As with so many charts, it’s easier to show you one than to describe it. So here you go:

Data source: https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/performance-metrics-family-support-services-homeless-shelter-system-monthly-utilization-8d7ff/resource/3f5b8d3d-bafe-4dfd-87ae-54f4797d1e46

This treemap shows the number of shelter beds used by individuals and families in various years in Chicago. There are two primary or “parent” categories: interim shelter beds and overnight shelter beds. Each of these categories is assigned a rectangle area with subcategory rectangles nested inside of it. In this case, the subcategories are years. The area of each rectangle in a treemap is in proportion to a quantity, in this case number of beds. The area size of the parent category (bed type) is the total of its subcategories (years). The parent categories, in this case, are also distinguished by color: red/orange for interim shelter beds and yellow for overnight shelter beds. Further, darker shades show more beds.

Uses

Treemaps provide a clear view of the structure of your data and allow you to compare the size of parent categories and subcategories. With the example above, we quickly can see that there were many more interim shelter beds than overnight ones. We also see a similar numbers of beds in all years except 2016, when there was a lower number of interim shelter beds.

Warnings

The treemap doesn’t look like a tree or a map, really. So why do we call it that? Well, the treemap shows a hierarchical structure (categories and subcategories) like a tree diagram (aka organizational map). But a treemap doesn’t show the different levels of the hierarchy as clearly as a tree diagram. So if you are trying to focus attention on a hierarchy with several levels, consider a tree diagram instead.

Fun Fact

A “tiling algorithm” (included in data viz programs like Tableau) determines how the rectangles are divided and ordered into sub-rectangles in a treemap. The most common is the "squarified algorithm," which keeps each rectangle as square as possible.

To see past data tips, including those about other chart types, click HERE.

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Let’s talk about YOUR data!

Got the feeling that you and your colleagues would use your data more effectively if you could see it better? Data Viz for Nonprofits (DVN) can help you get the ball rolling with an interactive data dashboard and beautiful charts, maps, and graphs for your next presentation, report, proposal, or webpage. Through a short-term consultation, we can help you to clarify the questions you want to answer and goals you want to track. DVN then visualizes your data to address those questions and track those goals.

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