Raw Data Studies

Where a more realistic (skeuomorphic) data encoding is less accurate to read.

A study of a map of wine consumption reveals many underlying choices, both cosmetic and substantive.

When a linear fit doesn’t look right, should we use it anyway? Let’s not — here are some alternatives.

That is the question. Or is it about the value of the individual responses versus combined responses? And don’t forget to smooth.

Trying to remake a divorce percentage chart led me learn about the new Census Bureau table query interface to its Public Use Microdata.

Looking at the raw data behind two recent studies of early suicide counts during the Covid-19 pandemic gives me a chance to try out a “moving box plot” since the data is a bit sparse for regular confidence intervals.

The Southern Policy Law Center has released its “The Year in Hate 2020” report (PDF) cataloguing hate group activity throughout the year. I review some of the graphs. Perhaps a closer look will raise our awareness of the content.

Welcome to my new blog of my visual explorations of data! Some say raw data doesn’t exist, so you can think of “raw” as applying to the studies rather than the data if that helps.

Can beauty exist without meaning? I examine a time-based stacked area chart where the time component is of dubious value. Plus a rare pie chart appearance and a quick scatterplot remake.

A suspicious regression chart from an economics working paper leads to an exploration that finds an error in the original and some interesting alternate views.