THESIS
2016
xii, 194 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 30 cm
Abstract
Graphs are a means to convey the numerical information in day to day life so that they can be
seeing and understood. Effective ways to visualize data is a topic that has had mixed reviews
as related experiments are few and most opinions are not based on experiments. The objective
of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of different types of Bar, Radial, Line, Bubble,
Scatter and Radar graphs in terms of Time, Accuracy and Perceived difficulty Rating. Three
experiments were performed. Eye movements were recorded and analyzed.
A total of 11 radial, bar and scatter graphs were evaluated with 12 questions and 20 participants
in experiment 1. Bar graphs were superior to radial graphs. The weaknesses of the radial graphs
were addressed and tested in experiment 3.
Expe...[
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Graphs are a means to convey the numerical information in day to day life so that they can be
seeing and understood. Effective ways to visualize data is a topic that has had mixed reviews
as related experiments are few and most opinions are not based on experiments. The objective
of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of different types of Bar, Radial, Line, Bubble,
Scatter and Radar graphs in terms of Time, Accuracy and Perceived difficulty Rating. Three
experiments were performed. Eye movements were recorded and analyzed.
A total of 11 radial, bar and scatter graphs were evaluated with 12 questions and 20 participants
in experiment 1. Bar graphs were superior to radial graphs. The weaknesses of the radial graphs
were addressed and tested in experiment 3.
Experiment 2 tested 11 bar charts with different fill patterns, legend orientations, bar
characteristics, and labelling with 20 participants and asking each 16 questions related to the
graphs. A novel fill-pattern had improved performance in comparison questions and in
estimations. Legend compatibility was important as well. Redundant information hindered
performance.
A cognitive task analysis was developed for each question to understand how information is
extracted. Several design guidelines were proposed with a flowchart.
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