ABSTRACT
Data visualization provides a powerful way to communicate a data-driven finding. In some cases, the visualization is so convincing that no follow-up analysis is required. The growing availability of informative datasets and software tools has led to increased reliance on data visualizations across many industries, academia, and government. A salient example is news organizations, which are increasingly embracing data journalism and including effective infographics as part of their reporting. Data visualization is the strongest tool of what we call exploratory data analysis (EDA). Many widely used data analysis tools were initiated by discoveries made via EDA. Data visualization is also now pervasive in philanthropic and educational organizations. This chapter describes the basics of data visualization and exploratory data analysis by using three motivating examples: heights reported by students, world health and economics, and infectious disease trends in the United States.
