Data visualization

Data visualization or data visualisation is viewed by many disciplines as a modern equivalent of visual communication. It is not owned by any one field, but rather finds interpretation across many (e.g. it is viewed as a modern branch of descriptive statistics by some, but also as a grounded theory development tool by others). It involves the creation and study of the visual representation of data, meaning "information that has been abstracted in some schematic form, including attributes or variables for the units of information".

A primary goal of data visualization is to communicate information clearly and efficiently to users via the statistical graphics, plots, information graphics, tables, and charts selected. Effective visualization helps users in analyzing and reasoning about data and evidence. It makes complex data more accessible, understandable and usable. Users may have particular analytical tasks, such as making comparisons or understanding causality, and the design principle of the graphic (i.e., showing comparisons or showing causality) follows the task. Tables are generally used where users will look-up a specific measure of a variable, while charts of various types are used to show patterns or relationships in the data for one or more variables.