Hello, I apologize that this is off-topic. I am seeking information on perception of graphical data, in an effort to improve the plots I produce. Would anyone point me to literature reviews in this area? (Or keywords to try on google?) Is this located somewhere near cognitive science, psychology, human factors research?
For example, some specific questions I have are: I recall as a child when I first saw a map where the areas of the containers (geographical states) were drawn as rectangles, proportional to a quantity other than land area. Does anyone know of an algorithm for drawing such maps? Would anyone know of a journal or reference where I can find studies on whether subjects reading these maps can accurately assess the meaning of the different areas, as [some of us] can assess different heights on a bar graph? (What about areas in bar graphs with non-uniform widths?) Scatter plots of microarray data often attempt to represent thousands or tens of thousands of points, but all I read from them are density and distribution --- the gene names cannot be shown. At what point, would a sunflowerplot-like display or a smooth gradient be better? When two data points drawn as 50% gray disks are small and tangent, are they perceptually equivalent to a single, 100% black disk? Or a 50% gray disk with twice the area? What problems are known about plotting with disks --- do viewers use the area or the diameter (or neither) to gauge weight? As you can tell, I'm a non-expert, mixing issues of data interpretation, visual perception, graphic representation. Previously, I didn't have the flexibility of R's graphics, so I didn't need to think so much. I've read some of Edward S. Tufte's books, but found them more qualitative than quantitative. Thanks! Richard 212-933-3305 / [EMAIL PROTECTED] ______________________________________________ R-help@stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
