Communicating data science results effectively

Lecture 26

Dr. Elijah Meyer

Duke University
STA 199 - Fall 2023

2023-11-28

Checklist

– Peer Review Survey is live (see Slack for details)

– Reminder: HW-6 due Dec-8th; Found on bottom of schedule

– Project Presentations next Wednesday

– Project write-up and final repo due Dec 8 - you will lose access to your repo at this time

Instructor Evaluation

Please take 10-minutes to fill out the instructor evaluation

Elijah:

– “What things worked well? What constructive feedback do you have?”

– “I take these seriously and will read them over break”

Lab Wednesday

– Be present

– Give constructive feedback to your peers

What’s going on in this plot?

Take A Sad Plot & Make It Better

Source: https://alison.netlify.app/rlm-sad-plot-better

ae-26

Recap

• Represent percentages as parts of a whole
• Place variables representing time on the x-axis when possible
• Pay attention to data types, e.g., represent time as time on a continuous scale, not years as levels of a categorical variable
• Prefer direct labeling over legends
• Use accessible colors
• Use color to draw attention
• Pick a purpose and label, color, annotate for that purpose
• Communicate your main message directly in the plot labels
• Simplify before you call it done (a.k.a. “Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take one thing off”)