ποΈ Week 04 - Visualizing Amounts & Distributions
This week introduces the fundamental building blocks of data visualization: showing amounts and understanding distributions. Students will learn to choose the right visualization type for their data by exploring the directory of visualizationsβa visual guide to common chart types and when to use them.
The first half of the lecture examines multiple approaches to visualizing amounts: when vertical bars work better than horizontal ones, how dot plots can be more precise than bars, and when grouped bars are preferable to stacked bars. Weβll also explore heatmaps as an alternative way to show amounts using color intensity rather than position.
The second half focuses on distributionsβone of the most common and important visualization tasks in data analysis. Students will learn why histograms and density plots require careful parameter choices, how bin width dramatically affects the story data tells, and techniques for comparing multiple distributions effectively. Thursdayβs lab provides hands-on practice creating these visualizations in the tool of their choice (Tableau, R, or Python), with special attention to the critical decision of selecting appropriate bin widths.
π¨βπ« Lecture Slides Tuesday
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π¨βπ« Lecture Slides Thursday
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