3.3 Comprehension and Content
Ali & Peebles (2013) point out how some errors in graph comprehension are due to misuse of prior knowledge. Content can affect reading the graph where people already have strong views or some knowledge (Freedman & Smith, 1996) known as theory-laden observations. However Freedman & Smith (1996) show that these prior beliefs can be countered by the presence of data and that data lessens the effect of the beliefs. Shah & Hoeffner, (2002) compared viewers’ interpretation of graphs that depicted familiar data for which they had expectations (e.g. number of car accidents) and unfamiliar relationships (e.g. ice cream sales) for which viewers did not have any expectations. Overall, when viewers were familiar with the data, they tended to describe those relationships ignoring data points inconsistent with their personally expected trends. When viewers were unfamiliar with the data they were more likely to describe what the data actually presented. Thus, viewer’s familiarity with the content of the graph affected viewers’ interpretation and influenced whether or not they would describe those trends.
Stone et al (1994) also found that risk when presented relative to other risks (e.g. the risk of smoking in relation to the risk of inactivity) performed better than isolated incidence rates. This again, points to the need to reflect methodologically on the content as well as form of the data presented. It is not clear what the impact of prior beliefs (and particularly emotional beliefs) are more widely on the reading of data or infographics and whilst it is an enormous subject beyond the scope of this review, it is worthy of note.
3.4 Embellishment and Comprehension
Embellishment (or “chartjunk”) is described as non-data ink “used as decoration to make a graphic more interesting, such as the repeated use of a picture in varying size instead of the bars of a normal bar chart” (Blasio & Bisantz, 2002, p.90) as well as excessive tick marks or repeated graphic motifs.
Certain types of embellishment have been shown to impact negatively on comprehension. Wickens and Carswell (1995) and Stewart et al (2009) suggested that we read graphs less accurately in the 3rd dimension though Siegrist (1996) and Schonlau & Peters (2012) drew more open conclusions. Gillian and Richman (1994) showed that pictorial backgrounds increased response time and decreased accuracy though in later work (Gillian and Sorenson, 2009) found that where backgrounds purposely differed from the data displayed, accuracy was actually enhanced more effectively than using a plain background. Blasio and Bisantz (2002) showed that high amounts of non-data ink led to slower response times when participants monitored changes in a display, though they couldn’t find a difference in performance in response time between low and medium use of non-data ink. They therefore present a less convincing argument for avoiding embellishment all together, than say, Gillian and Richman (1994).
Bateman et al (2007) found no difference in comprehension accuracy or speed when an embellished chart was presented in comparison with a plain version. In comparison with, say Gillian and Richman’s study, Bateman et al (2007) used a set of ‘well designed’ Nigel Holmes charts that retained legibility despite featuring chart “junk” and this may have aided comprehension.
It therefore appears that the impact of embellishment on comprehension remains unclear in empirical studies. Given the prevalence of heavily embellishment infographics currently in popular culture (Borkin et al, 2013) we may witness an increase in literacy levels of embellished formats though this remains to be seen.
3.5 Audiences and Comprehension
WIth the diversity of audiences it is important to recognize the impact of literacy on graph comprehension. Those with dyslexia show difficulty in comprehending graphs, as they have been found to read graphs much more slowly and take longer to process their contents than those without dyslexia (Kim, 2012). Hawley et al (1998) also found that higher numeracy was associated with a better understanding of all the graph formats that they showed. In Retamero & Galesic’s study (2010) visual aids were found to be most useful for the participants who had low numeracy but relatively high graphical literacy skills. We therefore always have to account for audience abilities within research methodologies.
Only a limited number of studies exist that look at the effect of infographics on recall. Merle et al (2014) highlight this knowledge gap stating, in relation to news infographics, that limited empirical evidence exists related to the recall of informative details.
Methodologies for measuring recall include open and cued recall. Open recall involves asking participants to recall either infographics they have seen or facts found in the infographics, either at the end of the research session or a period of time afterward (Bateman et al, 2007). Cued recall involves displaing items that have already been seen once, to ascertain whether they are recognized again. Borkin et al (2013) used an Amazon Turk Intelligence test to recruit ‘workers’ to view a large number of graphics (120 taken from a sample of 420) and indicate when they remembered seeing one before.
Borgo et al (2012) found that embellishment aided both the speed and accuracy of information recalled from long term memory when spatial contiguity design principles were applied e.g. the ‘to-be-remembered’ information was located closely to the image that represented it.
In another study, embellishment seems to have an distinct effect on long term rather than short term recall (for the latter, plain and embellished performed similarly). (Bateman et al, 2007). In a comparative study by Bateman et al (2007) it was found that after a long term gap (2-3 weeks), recall of both the chart topic and the details (categories and trend) was significantly better for embellished charts than plain charts. Li, H., & Moacdieh, N. (2014) found also a positive correlation between use of embellishments and short term recall memory though again only small samples of students (n.15) were used in their study.
Zikmund-Fisher et al (2014) found that risk recall was significantly higher when using more anthropomorphic icons (restroom icons, head outlines, and photos) than with other icon types. Mason et al (2014) found that bar charts led to greater recall of a key risk message though only among the most numerate participants.
Borkin et al (2013) claim a number of visual qualities aid memorability of visualisations. These were listed as: extensive use of colour, inclusion of recognizable objects, unusual visualisation types, use of pictograms and use of embellishment. They acknowledge though that remembering a design is different to remembering a message held within the design and so call for future research that combines the testing of both the form and the content on memorability.
4.0 BEHAVIOURAL CHANGE
There is little research regarding actual behavioural change to date partly due to the breadth of the infographics’ content studied (Bateman, 2007; Borkin et al, 2012) and the student focus of many of the studies. It is also difficult to measure behavioural change of a communicated message without longitudinal studies. There is however a large body of work regarding decision making and information presentation more broadly (see the literature review by Kelton et al, 2010). Decisions in such studies range from business or purchasing decisions to potential treatment choices. In most cases studied, the decisions are hypothetical.
Liu, C. C., & Lo, C. H. (2014) found that presenting different product performance charts in different formats (bar charts, count charts and radar charts) resulted in different evaluations of the products and that using radar charts (where the data display covers a wider area) appeared to have a more positive influence that either count or bar charts. The scale of this particular study however, was unclear. Speier (2006) found that participants were more confident of their decisions when using tables rather than graphs, despite the fact that for some tasks, graphs produced more accurate responses. There, then, is much potential is evaluating emotional as well as cognitive aspects of information presentation.
Stone et al (1997) found that graphical displays made participants take the communicated risk more seriously (e.g. pay more for safer option) than if just displayed numerically. The style of graphic however didn’t appear to make a difference. One of the key issues in the methodology relates to the relative sizing of the numerical version vs the graphical form. The latter was much more dominant in the visual field given its size and thus there are more visual variables present than were actually accounted for in the discussion. Evaluating their study does highlight the issues involved in testing different forms whilst attempting to retain equality of as many visual variables as possible. Chen and Yang (2015) also found that presenting risk information in table or graph rather than text format helped to elevate participant’s sense of risk.
Stone et al. (1994) also showed that presenting risk information in relative risk form (e.g., that a safer product reduces the risk to half that of another product) led to more risk avoidant behaviour than simply giving the absolute risk sizes for the two products. Relative risk may perceptully inflate the difference between two risk-specific behaviours despite the fact the absolute risk may be statistically small overall..
Hawley (2008, p.453) state that little research has evaluated the impact of graphical formats
on actual medical treatment choices, though they acknowledge the impact of graph format in verbatim and gist knowledge (discussed above). If information cannot be understood it cannot impact usefully on decision-making. Hawley et al (2008) also collected and analysed views on trustworthiness - an important characteristic of any infographic. They found interestingly that the non visual form .e.g. the table was rated more effective, trustworthy and scientific. However, the pictograph that performed well across all comprehension tests too was favorably rated for trustworthiness.
There is also useful burgeoning qualitative research (Le et al, 2013) that argues for more theoretical frameworks to be constructed based on testimony from real users. Le et al (2013) isolated particular areas of concern and favour when interviewing health providers about novel methods for presenting health data, including issues of trust, how they might be applied in reality or how they might aid decision making.
Behavioural change must be seen as one part of chain of functions, dependant on the other effects of attention, comprehension and recall, as well as the myriad of other influences that effect choice. It is certainly an area that demands more attention by researchers and organisations, particularly where an economic case is required for their use.
5.0 Appeal and Personal Preference.
Broadly, there is increasing interest in the role that appeal can play in an infographic’s ability to communicate effectively. In 2007, Lau and Moere proposed the term ‘information aesthetics’, and listed three potential characteristics that may affect the engagement of lay audiences when they view data. These characteristics are described as (1) design quality (visual style and user experience) (2) data focus (the communication of meaning instead of facts and trends) and (3) user interaction (flow, user engagement and collaboration). These aesthetic concerns are indicative of more contemporary research, expanding the field of cognition via efficiency and clarity to cognition via engagement (Hullman, 2011)
Inbar, Tractinsky & Meyer (2007) found that students preferred to see charts or graphs that had a degree of embellishment rather than being purely plain. Quispel & Maes (2014) found that graphic design students preferred more complex and diverse formats than ‘lay’ students, highlighting possible disparities between those that produce and those that view infographics. Both studies also used a fairly small sample size and thus could be further substantiated. Hinting at criteria used by students doesn’t aid in understanding the wider preferences of a more diverse population. It does however show the importance of employing a mixture of interested groups in the research.
Hildon et al (2012) found in their relatively small scale study that familiar presentation styles such as star ratings and traffic light were preferred to more unusual formats. In Bateman et al’s (2007) study it was found that participants found the embellished infographics more ‘enjoyable’ than the others and were much preferred to plain graphs. What the impact of this preference is in terms of impacting on attention, comprehension and recall is not clear in Bateman et al’s (2007) study and this area would benefit from more research. From these two studies it appears there is a need to balance both embellishment (to differentiate and decorate) and familiarity in a design (e.g. not to push novelty to extremes where visual form becomes unfamiliar).
Preece et al (2012) in a study that sought both preference and performance data from expert users using a variety of chart design, concluded that it’s dangerous to rely on preference alone. They found some serious usage problems with ‘popular’ designs and called for more balanced researching. This work related to specialist users, in this case, clinicians and thus requires extending out to a lay audience. In a different study, restroom icons were cited as most preferred over other icon types (Zikmund-Fisher et al, 2014) and also performed well in other tests, thus high appeal and high performance are not necessarily mutually exclusive.
This work highlights the scarcity of robust evidence in certain aspects of infographic design despite the large amounts of infographics published and shared every day. Whilst there is much research focusing on say, familiar graph types and comprehension, there is less research available focusing on embellished infographics that are visible in the contemporary press and commissioned by organisations.
In terms of attention, there is conflicting evidence concerning whether infographics can gain initial attention and this seems highly dependent on the surrounding context and the size of the graphic. The visual display of data via bar and line graphs have been shown to be quicker for understanding trends and relationships than text only or purely numerical data. Certain aspects of infographic design also impact upon comprehension, such as location of legends and arrangement of icons. There are still comprehension difficulties for significant numbers of the general population when looking at even basic chart formats such as pie charts, despite these being a common feature of popular infographics. Embellished infographics have been shown to impact positively on recall though few studies of scale and scope exist. There are few studies examining adherence and infographics though use of graphics has been shown to aid decision making. Generally embellishments have been found to be more appealing than plain graphs, these do not always aid comprehension.
Overall there is a wealth of research concerning standard graph types in relation to comprehension but very little evidence base for, say, the use of contemporary infographics or the use of embellishment types in infographic design. Except for the area of risk communication with patients, the bulk of research has been done on relatively small numbers of students and thus needs to be viewed with caution for wider application in the area of public health, or indeed many specialist areas.
Tractinsky & Meyer (1999, p.398) point out that “there seems to be a gap between research driven guidelines for information presentation and information presentation in practice and this gap is widening with the introduction of new presentation technologies”. The gap is also apparent in the number of studies performed only on student audiences in hypothetical situations. We need a greater understanding of the motivations of the audience as well as of the maker. Ancker et al (2006) states that education level, literacy, numeracy, and culture are also likely to be useful areas of research.
Most of the research focusing on comprehension relates to conventional graph formats and predates infographics where often various data representations are brought together in one space together with, say figurative imagery. The study by Borkin et al (2013) reviewed 1721 infographics from visual.ly.com and found that only 29% of them featured a single visualisation. To date there is no research that examines the more common multiple frame format of infographics and the impact this has on attention, recall, comprehension and adherence. Whilst studies report visual clutter (Renshaw, 2004) as a problem it is currently unclear how much clutter is tolerable and the impact of a large number of frames upon either verbatim or gist knowledge.
There are many potentially significant theories being discussed about contemporary infographics - the role of narrative (Segel & Heer, 2010) or the role of visual rhetoric in infographics (Hullman, 2011) - and there is much scope for extending the current scope of empirical work in this area with actual users. In a business context, Tractinsky & Meyer (1999) discuss the need to consider other objectives of presenting information such as persuasion. Again, these are areas that are relatively unexplored through either quantitative or qualitative measures.
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