Different disciplines have different standards and approaches when it comes to visualization of data. As you do your literature search and discover research in your topic of interest, you may notice different kinds of graphics used to describe data. In many cases, the most effective data visualization approaches can be determined when you think about what kinds of data that you have, and how much information that you want to share. The table below outlines some common graphing or visualization strategies depending on the type of data you may be working with.
If you need help choosing the appropriate visualization type for your data, here are some resources to help:
Data Types | Graphic Types |
---|---|
Quantitative Data |
Histograms
Source: Palmer Penguins Data Set
Two Variables Scatter Plots
Source: College Tuition Data
Line Plots
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Source: Incarceration Trends Dataset
|
Qualitative Data |
Word Frequency
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Source: Text scraped from this research guide
Timelines
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Source: War Data
Pie Charts
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Source: War Data
Mind Maps
Cladograms
|
Mix of Quantitative and Qualitative Data |
Bar and Column Charts
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Source: Berkeley Lab Energy Data
Boxplots
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Source: Palmer Penguins Data Set
Dot Plots
Violin Plots
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Source: Palmer Penguins Data Set
|
Complex Data Visualizations |
Three Variables Heatmaps
Density Plots
Many Variables Principal Component Analysis
|