Analytics Methods

ITS480 BUSINESS DATA ANALYTICS

Resource:
Tableau

October 18 1
By the end of this lesson, you should know:
• What is data visualisation.
• Benefits of good data visualisation.
• Types of data visualisation.

October 18 2
What is data visualisation?
• Data visualization refers to the graphical representation of
information and data. By using visual elements like charts, graphs,
and maps, data visualization is an accessible way to see and
understand trends, outliers, and patterns in data.
• In the world of Big Data, data visualization tools and technologies are
essential to analyse massive amounts of information and make data-
driven decisions.

October 18 3
Benefits of good data visualisation
• Our eyes are drawn to colors and patterns. We can quickly identify
red from blue, square from circle. Our culture is visual, including
everything from art and advertisements to TV and movies.
• Data visualization is another form of visual art that grabs our interest
and keeps our eyes on the message. When we see a chart, we quickly
see trends and outliers. If we can see something, we internalize it
quickly. It’s storytelling with a purpose. If you’ve ever stared at a
massive spreadsheet of data and couldn’t see a trend, you know how
much more effective a visualization can be.

October 18 4
Benefits of good data visualisation
• As the “age of Big Data” kicks into high-gear, visualization is an increasingly
key tool to make sense of the trillions of rows of data generated every day.
Data visualization helps to tell stories by curating data into a form easier to
understand, highlighting the trends and outliers. A good visualization tells a
story, removing the noise from data and highlighting the useful
information.
• However, it’s not simply as easy as just dressing up a graph to make it look
better or slapping on the “info” part of an infographic. Effective data
visualization is a delicate balancing act between form and function. The
plainest graph could be too boring to catch any notice or it make tell a
powerful point; the most stunning visualization could utterly fail at
conveying the right message or it could speak volumes. The data and the
visuals need to work together, and there’s an art to combining great
analysis with great storytelling.

October 18 5
Types of data visualisation
• When you think of data visualization, your first thought probably
immediately goes to simple bar graphs or pie charts. While these may
be an integral part of visualizing data and a common baseline for
many data graphics, the right visualization must be paired with the
right set of information. Simple graphs are only the tip of the iceberg.
There’s a whole selection of visualization methods to present data in
effective and interesting ways.

October 18 6
General types of data visualization
• Charts
• Tables
• Graphs
• Maps
• Infographics
• Dashboards

October 18 7
More specific examples of methods to
visualize data
• Area Chart • Matrix
• Bar Chart • Network
• Box-and-whisker Plots • Polar Area
• Bubble Cloud • Radial Tree
• Bullet Graph • Scatter Plot (2D or 3D)
• Cartogram • Streamgraph
• Circle View • Text Tables
• Dot Distribution Map • Timeline
• Gantt Chart • Treemap
• Heat Map • Wedge Stack Graph
• Highlight Table • Word Cloud
• Histogram

October 18 8
Treemap
• Treemaps are a powerful and compact way to visualize hierarchical
and part-to-whole relationships. Each branch of the tree is
represented as a rectangle, with the size of a branch proportionate to
a specified measure of the data. A lot of people like treemaps
because they're visually attractive, so understanding how to leverage
color is a plus. Color is often used to show dimensions in a treemap—
heat maps work well if you want to show a spectrum.

https://public.tableau.com/views/CashonHand1/CashonHand?:embed
=y&:loadOrderID=0&:display_count=yes

October 18 9
October 18 10
Learn how to build a tree map in Tableau
• https://www.tableau.com/learn/tutorials/on-demand/histograms

October 18 11
Learn how to build it in Tableau
• https://www.tableau.com/learn/tutorials/on-demand/treemaps-
word-clouds-and-bubble-charts-chart-type

October 18 12
Histogram
• Histograms plot the number of occurrences of a given variable in a set
of data. They’re a great tool for getting an overview of the entire
distribution of a variable, and they take the form of a bar chart.
Imagine using histograms for retail analytics, to count the number of
sales of individual products by category. Or in customer analytics, to
tally the range of spending in a certain demographic.

October 18 13
October 18 14
Learn how to build it in Tableau
• https://www.tableau.com/learn/tutorials/on-demand/histograms

October 18 15
Box plot
• A box plot (or box-and-whisker plot) is a diagram of a distribution of data
best known for highlighting these values:
• first quartile
• median
• third quartile
• whiskers (1.5 times the interquartile range away from the mean)
• outliers
• Box plots are useful for comparing sets of data—especially the variations in
the data. They're a favorite of statisticians, and used commonly in
statistical analytics. Tableau can plot hundreds of thousands of rows per
second, so it can convey much more information than the standard box
plot.

October 18 16
October 18 17
Learn how to build it in Tableau
• http://kb.tableau.com/articles/knowledgebase/box-plot-analog

October 18 18
Gantt chart
• Gantt charts are the enemy of procrastination, keeping those micro-
deadlines between projects well in view. They’re great for displaying a
timeline such as project stages or a product release—to ensure you
release the beta before the product.
• The viewer can instantly see when parts of a project begin and end in
relation to each other, without having to cross check between pages
or sheets. Did you know? The first Gantt-type chart was developed in
1896, and was called a harmonogram. So all your departments can
work in harmony.

October 18 19
October 18 20
Learn how to build it in Tableau
• http://onlinehelp.tableau.com/current/pro/online/mac/en-
us/buildexamples_gantt.html

October 18 21
Word cloud
• Word clouds are like bubble charts in that words are sized according
to some numerical measure and all packed into a designated space.
They’re useful for presenting data about—you guessed it—words.
While word clouds are not the best for accurate interpretation,
sometimes they add impact to a dashboard and encourage more
people to engage with the data.

October 18 22
October 18 23
Learn how to build it in Tableau
• https://www.tableau.com/learn/tutorials/on-demand/treemaps-
word-clouds-and-bubble-charts-chart-type-8

October 18 24
Lab work
• Go through each video on the following URL.

• https://www.tableau.com/learn/training

October 18 25