Let’s take a look at a plot from a survey conducted by DigitalWarRoom, its “2015 Ediscovery IQ Meter.” On page 12 of the report, which was published in July 2105, there is a plot that looks quite similar to the plot below. (The reproduction does not have tiny tick marks…
Bearing in mind the benefits of more reproducible research regarding legal management, a piece in the Economist, July 25, 2015 at page 8, makes a good point. That short article explains how pharmaceutical companies have not been publishing results from clinical trials regarding their drug research that are negative or…
Surveyors sometimes weight their data to make the findings more representative of some other set of information. This point comes through in an article in the New York Times, July 23, 2015 at 83 regarding political polls. Pollsters may get too few responses from some demographic slice, such as farmers,…
A precept of reproducible research, such as survey results that allow readers to understand the methodology and credibility of the findings, is to make generous use of “N = some number”. That conventional shorthand for “how many are we talking about” shows up in almost every reproducible-research graphic. Whether in…
We can take one more look at the seminal Winston & Strawn plot, now streamlined and improved as discussed previously. A few graphical design choices deserve comment. We emphasize, however, that graphical design choices are many, which means the permutations and combinations of them are even more numerous. Experience (and…
Returning once again to the same plot from the Winston & Strawn survey report, but shifting from criticism, we should praise several aspects of the original plot. The somewhat-narrow width of the bars makes a more appealing impression than when bars are thick and therefore tightly packed shoulder to shoulder.…
We revisit the same Winston & Strawn plot which appears as the plot as it was in the most recent post in its improved re-incarnation. Now, let’s take up four more observations. The thick black line on the vertical y-axis adds nothing: It is an example of what is…
Another aspect of the plot that has been discussed previously [Click here for the latest post in this series] should be called out. Whoever prepared the plot chose to color differently each bar of the three risks most often selected. The blue bar represents “geographic locations in which the company…
We return to the same survey plot and our topic of effective visualization of survey results. To see the previous post that explains the source data and the purpose of this series, click here. The version shown below incorporates the changes recommended previously regarding redundant data and serves as the…
In this series of blog posts, we will use a survey by the U.S. law firm Winston & Strawn to learn about survey methodology. In 2013 the firm produced a 33-page report based on the survey results entitled “The Winston & Strawn International Business Risk Survey 2013”. To download a…