Visualizing Health and Healthcare Data

Preface xiii

Section I Establishing a Framework and Process 1

Chapter 1 Health and Healthcare Data Visualizations of Historical Importance 3

Chapter 2 Stop Hunting Unicorns and Start Building Teams and Know The Data 9

Search for Characteristics and Core Competencies 10

Get to Know the Data 11

Classifications, Intent, Purpose, and Lineage 12

Two Types of Data 14

Qualitative/Categorical Data 14

Quantitative/Numerical Data 14

Scales/Levels of Measure 15

Nominal 15

Ordinal 16

Interval 17

Ratio 18

Summary 19

Chapter 3 Requirements-Gathering and Design Methods 21

Design Thinking Foundational Concepts 22

Design Methods 23

Contextual Inquiry 23

Mental Models 24

Personas 26

Persona Creation Guide 27

Graphic Organizers 29

Guided Analytics Framework 29

Summary Overview Dashboard 30

Supporting Focused Reports 30

Details 31

Multidimensional Exploratory Displays (MEDs™) 31

Sketching 32

Prototyping 33

Testing 34

Summary 36

Section II Perceiving the Best Practices of Data Visualization 37

Chapter 4 The Research 39

Research Informs Data Visualization Best Practices 39

Preattentive Attributes 41

Preattentive Attributes at Work 43

Gestalt Principles 46

Color Theory 48

The Power of White Space 53

Where People Look 54

Summary 54

Chapter 5 Table Design Checklist 55

Fundamentals of Table Design 55

Organization/Categorization 55

Non-Data Ink 56

Fonts 56

Number Alignment and Formatting 56

Labels 58

Summary 58

Chapter 6 Powerful Visualizations in Four Shapes 59

Bars, Lines, Points, and Boxes 59

Shape One: Bars 61

Bar Basics 61

Using Bars To: See How You’re Doing 63

Distributions 63

Histograms 63

Population Pyramid (Paired Bars) 65

Ranking 67

Change over Time 68

Comparing Multiple Data Points 70

Proportions | Part-to-Whole 71

Challenging the 100% Myth 73

Deviation (Difference, Variation) 73

Ranges and Comparative Values 74

Displaying the Vital Few: Pareto Charts 77

Bars Are Not Boring 78

Shape Two: Lines 79

Line Basics 79

Using Lines To: See How You’re Doing 83

As a Reference | Comparison 83

Change over Time 84

Change over Time | Sparklines 86

Change over Time | Deviation Graphs 87

Distributions 88

Distributions | The Empirical Rule and Control Charts 88

Statistical Process Control Charts (SPCs) and Geometric (G) Charts 90

Relationships | Correlations 91

Shape Three: Points 92

Point Basics 92

Using Points To: See How You’re Doing 94

Distributions 94

Revealing Details 95

Change over Time 96

Correlation 96

Hierarchy Quadrant 97

Location Details 98

Shape Four: Boxes 98

Box Basics 99

Using Boxes To: See How You’re Doing 99

Distribution 99

Multiple Values 100

Change over Time and Utilization Rates 101

Hierarchical Data 101

Other Shapes 102

Summary 103

Chapter 7 Maps 105

Using Maps to Gain Insights 105

Geographic Maps 105

Choropleth Maps 106

Hex-Tile Maps 109

Symbol/Dot-Density Maps 110

Proportional Symbol Maps 112

When Not to Use a Map 113

Summary 114

Chapter 8 Graphs and Charts to Never Use or Use with Caution 115

When “Cool Displays” Are Anything But 115

Pie and Donut Charts 117

Why People Use Them 117

Characteristics 118

Challenges 118

Best Practice Alternative 119

Multiples of Several-Part Stacked Bar Charts (MSPSBCs) 121

Why People Use Them 121

Characteristics 121

Challenges 121

Best Practice Alternative 124

Bubble Charts 124

Why People Use Them 124

Characteristics 125

Challenges 125

Best Practice Alternative 126

Treemaps 128

Why People Use Them 128

Characteristics 129

Challenges 129

Best Practice Alternative 130

Marimekko (Mekko or Mosaic) Charts 132

Why People Use Them 132

Characteristics 132

Challenges 134

Best Practice Alternative 134

Radial Bar and Petal Charts 134

Why People Use Them 134

Characteristics 135

Challenges 135

Best Practice Alternative 136

Radar Charts 138

Why People Use Them 138

Characteristics 138

Challenges 138

Best Practice Alternative 139

Sankey Diagrams 141

Why People Use Them 141

Characteristics 141

Challenges 142

Best Practice Alternative 144

One More Thing: 3-D 145

Summary 146

Chapter 9 Making Accessible Visualizations 149

Accessible Design is Good Design 149

Accessibility in Data Visualization 150

Ways to Make Accessible Data Visualizations 151

Summary 158

Section III Creating Compelling Data Displays 159

Chapter 10 Dashboards, Reports, and Multidimensional Exploratory Displays (MEDs™) 161

Definitions Matter 161

Dashboards 162

Dashboards Defined 162

Purpose/Objective 162

Data/Information 163

Design 164

Example Dashboards 165

Dashboard Summary 169

Reports 170

Reports Defined 170

Purpose/Objective 170

Design 170

Example Reports 171

Report Summary 176

Multidimensional Exploratory Displays (MEDs™) 176

MEDs™ Defined 177

Purpose/Objective 177

Design 177

Example MED™ 177

MEDs™ Summary 184

Summary 184

Chapter 11 Infographics 185

"No Tobacco Day" Infographic 186

Measles and Vaccinations Infographic 188

Infographic vs. Infoposter 191

Summary 194

Section IV Closing Thoughts and Recommended Reading and Resources 195

Closing Thoughts 197

Fluency and Mastery 197

Bitten by the Viz Bug | Recommended Reading and Resources 199

Recommended Reading 199

Resources 201

Accessibility Resources 202

Author Bios 203

References 207

Index 211