Why Shouldn't All Charts Be Scatter Plots? Beyond Precision-Driven Visualizations

Enrico Bertini; Michael Correll; Steven Franconeri

doi:10.1109/VIS47514.2020.00048

Why Shouldn't All Charts Be Scatter Plots? Beyond Precision-Driven Visualizations

Enrico Bertini, Michael Correll, Steven Franconeri

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

Abstract

A central tenet of information visualization research and practice is the notion of visual variable effectiveness, or the perceptual precision at which values are decoded given visual channels of encoding. Formative work from Cleveland McGill has shown that position along a common axis is the most effective visual variable for comparing individual values. One natural conclusion is that any chart that is not a dot plot or scatterplot is deficient and should be avoided. In this paper we refute a caricature of this scatterplots only argument as a way to call for new perspectives on how information visualization is researched, taught, and evaluated.

Original language	English (US)
Title of host publication	Proceedings - 2020 IEEE Visualization Conference, VIS 2020
Publisher	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages	206-210
Number of pages	5
ISBN (Electronic)	9781728180144
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/VIS47514.2020.00048
State	Published - Oct 2020
Event	2020 IEEE Visualization Conference, VIS 2020 - Virtual, Salt Lake City, United States Duration: Oct 25 2020 → Oct 30 2020

Publication series

Name	Proceedings - 2020 IEEE Visualization Conference, VIS 2020

Conference

Conference	2020 IEEE Visualization Conference, VIS 2020
Country/Territory	United States
City	Virtual, Salt Lake City
Period	10/25/20 → 10/30/20

Keywords

Human-centered computing
Visualization
Visualization theory
concepts and paradigms

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Media Technology
Modeling and Simulation

Access to Document

10.1109/VIS47514.2020.00048

Cite this

Bertini, E., Correll, M., & Franconeri, S. (2020). Why Shouldn't All Charts Be Scatter Plots? Beyond Precision-Driven Visualizations. In Proceedings - 2020 IEEE Visualization Conference, VIS 2020 (pp. 206-210). [9331277] (Proceedings - 2020 IEEE Visualization Conference, VIS 2020). Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.. https://doi.org/10.1109/VIS47514.2020.00048

Why Shouldn't All Charts Be Scatter Plots? Beyond Precision-Driven Visualizations. / Bertini, Enrico; Correll, Michael; Franconeri, Steven.

Proceedings - 2020 IEEE Visualization Conference, VIS 2020. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 2020. p. 206-210 9331277 (Proceedings - 2020 IEEE Visualization Conference, VIS 2020).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

Bertini, E, Correll, M & Franconeri, S 2020, Why Shouldn't All Charts Be Scatter Plots? Beyond Precision-Driven Visualizations. in Proceedings - 2020 IEEE Visualization Conference, VIS 2020., 9331277, Proceedings - 2020 IEEE Visualization Conference, VIS 2020, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., pp. 206-210, 2020 IEEE Visualization Conference, VIS 2020, Virtual, Salt Lake City, United States, 10/25/20. https://doi.org/10.1109/VIS47514.2020.00048

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abstract = "A central tenet of information visualization research and practice is the notion of visual variable effectiveness, or the perceptual precision at which values are decoded given visual channels of encoding. Formative work from Cleveland McGill has shown that position along a common axis is the most effective visual variable for comparing individual values. One natural conclusion is that any chart that is not a dot plot or scatterplot is deficient and should be avoided. In this paper we refute a caricature of this scatterplots only argument as a way to call for new perspectives on how information visualization is researched, taught, and evaluated.",

keywords = "Human-centered computing, Visualization, Visualization theory, concepts and paradigms",

author = "Enrico Bertini and Michael Correll and Steven Franconeri",

note = "Funding Information: This work was supported by NSF awards IIS-1901485 and IIS-1900941. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020 IEEE.; 2020 IEEE Visualization Conference, VIS 2020 ; Conference date: 25-10-2020 Through 30-10-2020",

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Why Shouldn't All Charts Be Scatter Plots? Beyond Precision-Driven Visualizations

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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