It Ain't Necessarily So: Checking Charts for Robustness
Aran Lunzer, Amelia A. McNamara · 2014
Figure 1: Checking how bin offset influences the shape of a histogram for a small data set. Histograms for ten offset values are combined on the main chart using translucent overlay; the user has also steered the dashed-red probe region to display this part of the respective charts in a small-multiples view. On the far right we show how mousing over one of the small-multiples panes highlights the corresponding histogram on the main chart, and also shows the outline of that histogram on the other panes. Graphics such as statistical charts are crucial tools for communicat-ing the essence of data, but require care in their construction: a chart for a given data set could appear to tell a range of stories, depending just on parameter values used in generating the chart. We are in-vestigating how providing an interactive history of chart-parameter manipulations could encourage people to check the robustness of any story a chart appears to show. Our hope is that this work will be of value to chart creators and consumers alike.