Directions

In this chapter we discussed why well-designed data graphics are important and we described a taxonomy for understanding their composition.

The objective of this assignment is for you to understand what characteristics you can use to develop a great data graphic.

Each question is worth 5 points.

To submit this homework you will create the document in Rstudio, using the knitr package (button included in Rstudio) and then submit the document to your Rpubs account. Once uploaded you will submit the link to that document on Canvas. Please make sure that this link is hyper linked and that I can see the visualization and the code required to create it.

Question #1

Answer the following questions for this graphic Relationship between ages and psychosocial maturity

knitr::include_graphics("http://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S1043276005002602-gr2.jpg")

  1. Identify the visual cues, coordinate system, and scale(s)
  2. How many variables are depicted in the graph? Explicitly link each variable to a visual cue that you listed above.
  3. Critique this data graphic using the taxonomy described in the lecture.

A, Visual cues: color, length of the square, time trend of the development. Coordinate system: X,Y Cartesian Coordinate system. Scale: Age in years [0,20] and historical years.

B, color represents two different phases of metabolism, the length of the square represents the min and max age of a particular phase, and trend describes the correspondences of these two phases.

C, This graph describe the change in age and correspondences of two metabolism phase, menarche, and psychosocial maturation, at 4 different time point: 20,000 years ago, agriculture settlement, industrial revolution and social improvement, and social complexity and nutritional overload. Unlike other time points, in social complexity and nutritional excess, there will be mismatch menarche that happens early than maturation.

Question #2

Answer the following questions for this graphic World’s top 10 best selling cigarette brands 2004-2007

knitr::include_graphics("https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2695/4149541331_482fbb0aaf_o.png")

  1. Identify the visual cues, coordinate system, and scale(s)

  2. How many variables are depicted in the graph? Explicitly link each variable to a visual cue that you listed above.

  3. Critique this data graphic using the taxonomy described in the lecture.

A, Color, length

B, different brands = color,sales in billions = length

C, This graph compares the sales amount for the world’s top 10 best cigarette brands( in billions). As we can see, Maribore sale the highest amount outshines other cigarette brands, and wills gold flake are 10th in this ranking.

Question #3

Find two data graphics published in a newspaper on on the internet in the last two years.

  1. Identify a graphical display that you find compelling. What aspects of the display work well, and how do these relate to the principles that we have just gone over in lecture. Include a screenshot of the display along with your solution (Hint:use the following in a code chunk:
knitr::include_graphics("https://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/images/multimedia/hiv/Annual-HIV-Infections-US-2015-2019.jpg?_=48266?noicon")

This graph shows the annual HIV infection in the US from 2015 to 2019 and the ending of the HIV epidemic in the U.S. Target gold. I like the fact that they are using a line graph. It shows the trend in a very efficient way.

  1. Identify a graphical display that you find less compelling. What aspects of the display don’t work well? Are there ways that the display might be improved? Include a screenshot of the display along with your solution (Hint:use the following in a code chunk: knitr::include_graphics(“your_graphic”).
knitr::include_graphics("https://images.firstwefeast.com/complex/image/upload/c_limit,f_auto,fl_lossy,q_auto,w_1100/nuvbnjezm5uvh1dupuut.jpg")

I don’t like this graph because it lacks information on time. Lack of time information makes me feel like the ranking is not objective.

Question #4

Briefly (one paragraph) critique the designer’s choices. Would you have made different choices? Why or why not? Note: Link contains a collection of many data graphics, and I don’t expect (or want) you to write a full report on each individual graphic. But each collection shares some common stylistic elements. You should comment on a few things that you notice about the design of the collection.

What is a Data Scientist

knitr::include_graphics("https://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/3/2/1330695817953/EMC2-graphic-on-data-scie-008.jpg")

Answer: This designer focuses on the percentage but not the amount. I will like to add the specific amount in some of their graphs. Because even the proportion is important, the specific scale you use is also essential.

Question #5

Briefly (one paragraph) critique the designer’s choices. Would you have made different choices? Why or why not? Note: Link contains a collection of many data graphics, and I don’t expect (or want) you to write a full report on each individual graphic. But each collection shares some common stylistic elements. You should comment on a few things that you notice about the design of the collection.

Charts that explain food in America

knitr::include_graphics("https://www.vox.com/a/explain-food-america")

Answer:

These graphics contain lots of information, but the information is highly concentrated and hard to read. I want to provide more instruction for the reader to read, for example, using a smaller scale(using state-level information for the map or providing a specific amount in the line graph.