What is data visualization?
Data visualization is the process of creating a visual representation of trends, patterns, and critical insights from a set of data. A data visualization tool is a software that helps you create a visualization.
Even if you don’t work with data every day, you’ve probably used many different types of data visualizations before. Some of the most popular visualizations are:
- Pie charts , showing percentage breakdowns
- Tables , which show data that is too complicated for text
- Timelines , which provide a sequence of events over time
- Histograms , which show the distribution of a data set consisting of continuous or discrete data
- Gantt charts , which show the timeline of a project
- Box-and-whisker plots , which provide a five-number summary of a data set (including the minimum, first quartile, median, third quartile, and maximum numbers)
- Scatter plots , which show a relationship between two sets of data (such as height versus weight)
- Bar chart , showing the distribution paytm database of data across two categories (such as A/B test results )
There is no “one” way to create a data visualization, although the general creation process is as follows:
- Step 1: Gather your dataset
- Step 2 : “Clean” your data to make sure it is consistent and error-free
- Step 3 : Export your dataset to your data visualization software
- Step 4 : Use the software to generate visualizations
- Step 5 : Evaluate the reliability and Your how ai-powered search is changing seo and content strategy Guide to the Best validity of your visualization and use the graph as you wish
When talking about data, it’s important to keep in mind that “reliability” and “validity” are different things. “Reliability” refers to how well your data and the methodology behind it measure benin businesses directory the thing you’re evaluating, while “validity” refers to how accurate your data itself is.
Why data visualization is important
Data visualizations are very useful as they can help you:
- Unlock BI Insights: Business Intelligence (BI) insights are vital pieces of information that inform your decisions.
For example, if you’re analyzing your Your Guide to the Best email open rates , it would be a BI insight to say that your click-through rate (CTR) was higher on emails sent through MailChimp rather than GetResponse. This information will likely influence which platform you use.
- Translate complicated or detailed results to others: Visualizations can help you explain what your data says to your boss, investors, coworkers, or the media by reducing complex data into easily digestible graphics.
For example, if you were running an A/B test on your WordPress site, you could use data visualization to display the results of “A” and “B” results so they are easy to understand.
- Analyze and understand hidden trends in your business data: While some trends are obvious when looking at a data set, many data sets are too large to interpret without visualizations.