InfoD-Cafe: Empirical evaluation of information graphics?

[frascara at ualberta.ca]

Dear Will Stahl-Timmins,

Sorry about my delay in responding, I was travelling and working and  
could not keep up with the emails.

I cannot suggest bibliographies, but I use two measures to evaluate  
performance in information design: memorization of content (which  
depending on the case can involve short or long term retention, or  
both), and speed at search-and-find tasks. There is a need to  
establish benchmarks of desired performance, or to be able to compare  
two approaches to the solution of the same problem. In this case, it  
might be useful some times to be able to measure the comparative  
performance of individual variables.

I hope this is useful

Good luck with your project.

Jorge Frascara


Quoting "Karel van der Waarde" <waarde at glo.be>:

> Dear All,
>
> Will Stahl-Timmins asked on the PhD in Design
> list the following question. I have mentioned the
> DD4D conference in Paris, and some other
> references. Can anyone help?
>
> Kind regards,
> Karel.
> waarde at glo.be
>
>
>>>>
>
> I am currently doing a doctorate research project
> which aims to show how information graphics can
> be used to support health technology assessment
> which is a key area of policy making in
> healthcare.
>
> In health technology assessment (HTA), the
> scientific research community provides evidence
> based syntheses to support high level decisions
> about priorities in health spending. In the UK,
> for instance, HTA is fundamental to the decision
> making processes at the National Instititute of
> Health and Clinical Excellence and its importance
> is growing both in the UK and internationally. In
> this context, there is commonly a need to present
> complex multi-dimensional data to decision makers
> of differing professional backgrounds. The
> opportunities and role of the designer in
> producing information graphics to support the
> presentation of such information in HTA is only
> just beginning to be understood.
>
> One challenge in my research is to show an
> empirical effect in terms of understanding or
> information absorption between a purely numerical
> (tabulated) and a graphical presentation of
> research data.
>
> My first question is therefore:
>
> Is anyone aware of a bibliography or reference
> source for empirical studies that
> demonstrate/evaluate the benefits of information
> graphics in decision support?
>
> Some of the literature I¹ve found so far suggests
> that the more complex the  information, the
> greater the advantage of using information
> graphics (given the fact that there is a learning
> curve for unfamiliar presentations of
> information). I can design an experiment that
> gradually increases the complexity of a decision,
> based on more and more information, but I need to
> know how to assess how well people are absorbing
> information, so that I can compare different
> presentation methods.
>
> I¹ve so far found three common ways of measuring
> effectiveness, used in such comparative
> evaluative studies in management science:
>
> 1) Present some data in two or more forms, and
> ask a series of questions which require the
> participant to obtain information from the  data,
> counting the number (and/or speed) of correct
> responses.
>
> 2) Ask participants to predict the next value in
> a (real) sequential data set, and measure their
> responses against the actual values.
>
> 3) Ask participants which presentation method
> they preferred using a qualitative technique,
> such as a questionnaire or interview delivered
> after the event.
>
> My second question is:
>
> Does anyone know any other obvious (or even less
> than obvious...) ways of measuring the
> effectiveness of information graphics that I may
> have missed?
>
>
> ...............................................
>
> Will Stahl-Timmins B.A., M.A.
> PhD Researcher: Information Graphics in Health Technology Assessment.
>
> T: +44 (0) 1392 406 967
> M: +44 (0) 7941 865 196
> E: w.stahl-timmins at exeter.ac.uk
>
> www.pms.ac.uk/infographics/
> www.pms.ac.uk/pentag/
> www.willstahl.com
>
>
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