Topics Covered in Course

• Organize and arrange data to facilitate data exploration and visualization
• Create and interpret visualizations to explore the distributions of individual variables
• Construct crosstabulations and their related charts to explore patterns in data involving multiple variables

• Select an appropriate chart type for exploring patterns based on the type of data and goal of analysis
• Create and compare visualizations that display the association between two quantitative variables
• Define correlation and how to estimate its strength on a scatter chart
• Define the types of missing data and understand its implication on how to address it
• Create visualizations for time series data and identify temporal patterns
• Explain the strengths and weaknesses of choropleth maps and cartograms for exploring data
• Explain the importance of knowing your audience’s needs and analytical comfort level to create an effective data visualization or presentation
• Explain how to create empathy in the audience with the data to create the most effective message possible in your data visualization or presentation
• List the types of data visualizations that are most appropriate to communicate specific insights and for audiences with different needs and different levels of analytical comfort
• Effectively use dot matrix charts and big-associated numbers to give the audience a better relative understanding of large numerical values in a data visualization
• Describe examples of how data visualizations can be created to help the audience empathize with data
• Identify situations for which a slope chart is appropriate and be able to create a slope chart from data
• Use preattentive attributes to emphasize certain insights for an audience and tell a story in a data visualization
• Define Aristotle’s Rhetorical Triangle and explain how it can be employed to connect with the audience to tell a story in a data visualization or presentation
• Define Freytag’s Pyramid and explain how this provides a suggested structure for telling a story in your presentation
• Define the concept of storyboarding and explain how to storyboard a presentation using sticky notes and using PowerPoint
• Create an effective story for a presentation that considers the needs of the audience
• Explain what a data dashboard is
• Describe and explain the principles of effective data dashboards
• List common areas of application of data dashboards
• Describe and explain various data dashboard taxonomies
• Describe and explain the principles of data dashboard design and development
• Use Excel tools to build a data dashboard
• List common mistakes made in data dashboard design and development
• Identify missing data and data errors using Excel
• Define the meaning of biased data and explain the concepts of selection bias and survivor bias
• Define Simpson’s paradox and explain how a scatter chart can be used to identify some instances of Simpson’s paradox
• Explain the importance of adjusting for inflation in time series data that represent long time periods and use a price index to adjust nominal values to account for inflation
• Identify deceptive design practices related to the axes used in charts and suggest ways to improve the axes in these charts to communicate insights to the audience more clearly
• Explain why dual-axis charts are often confusing and misleading for audiences and suggest an alternative to using a dual-axis chart that is less confusing for the audience
• Explain how the range of data and the temporal frequency of data included in a chart affects the insights conveyed to the audience
• Explain why some geographic maps can result in misleading data visualizations and provide recommendations for how to improve these types of maps