Does data displayed in charts and graphs, rather than tables, lead to better decisions? Not according to research published several years ago in the Journal of Marketing Research. The authors looked at various types of biases that creep into business managers’ decisions when based on data presented to them. They did this by conducting experiments…
Clients tell us that one of the biggest challenges they face is writing great research reports. There is the overwhelming difficulty of turning data into stories — making sense of volumes of data without losing the big picture or the details. And there is the difficulty of truly communicating research so that it is heard,…
Telling a story with data is one part finding the right words, and one part finding a compelling visual way to present numbers. Good visualization of data conveys the “big picture” at a glance. At the same time, it includes details so that the audience understands and sees both the whole and the parts. Effective…
A truly effective research report is both parsimonious and richly nuanced. In other words, (1) it is short and to the point, and (2) it captures the complexity of reality. But how do you do both? The importance of the first was highlighted some time ago in a NYT “Corner Office” interview with Guy Kawasaki,…
Getting your research findings heard, understood, and used should always be your goal. That means more than putting findings into a report deck, presenting results to the marketing team, writing up press releases, or getting media placement for a PR story. It means having your audience engage with it by thinking, sharing, and taking action.…
Two paragraphs can be exceptionally thought provoking when they get right to the point. In a simple introduction to the New York Times Book Review some time ago, the editors highlighted two ideas about statistics and stories worth sharing.
In an article published some years ago entitled Data-Driven Journalism, Walker Sands, a Chicago-based marketing and PR agency, outlined two ways to get media placement for your company or your client with research. Their premise was that journalists and readers are hungry for interesting stories, and in today’s data-driven world, some of the most interesting…
We are big fans data visualization (in addition to presenting data with numbers and tables). But even the basics of visualizing data can be challenging, so it is worth thinking about how and when to use some of the simplest tools, like pie charts and bar charts. Pie charts can be particularly challenging because they…
One of the cool things about social science and marketing research is that it brings together mathematics and human behavior. Mathematics is beautiful, elegant, and abstract. It is much like art. Human behavior is messy, contradictory, and frustrating, desperately in need of a way to make sense of it. Bringing the two together – turning…
Today I saw my first “dumb election statistics” article of the season, with AP News offering this dramatically titled story: Kamala Harris’ election would defy history. Just 1 sitting VP has been elected president since 1836. We are bound to see tons of headlines and stories like this during the next several weeks. It brought…