Data Visualization

This guide provides a starting point for learning the fundamentals of data visualization. The guide is organized into four sections:

• The Introduction page includes information on what data visualization is, and key questions to ask when creating a visualization.
• The Data Types page includes information on different data types.
• The Choosing the Appropriate Chart page includes information on different chart types and selecting the appropriate chart for your data.
• The Visualization Tools page includes information on different tools for creating visualizations

Each section takes you through a step of the data visualization process, from the first step of understanding the various data types within your dataset, to the final step of selecting the appropriate tool to visualize your data.

Data visualization is the graphical representation of information or data. Data visualization allows us to transform data into a visual representation for the purpose of sense-making and communicating clearly and effectively. 

Key questions to consider when creating a visualization:

1. What type of data are you working with?

   • Time series

   • Quantitative/Numerical

   • Qualitative/Categorical

   • Geographic/Spatial

2.  What question are you attempting to answer?

   • Do you want to compare different categories/groups?

   • Do you want to illustrate trends, increases or decreases in a value over time?

   • Do you want to compare the different parts of a whole?

   • Do you want to see the distribution of values within a variable?

   • Do you want to see the relationship between variables?