From xkcd, a comic by Randall Munroe

In a recent article, Paul Borsch described how correlations get bandied about without the understanding that a correlation is not a cause. And he’s right…except that, as others have pointed out, “correlation is not causation” often gets used to discount correlations entirely. And correlations often do have causes.

So how do we think critically about correlation and causation, without being enamored by correlations, nor being dismissive of them?

In this article, the first of a three part series, I’ll tackle eight things to know about correlation. In the next two articles, I’ll address key things to know about causes, and then present tips for determining whether a correlation has an underlying cause and, if so, what it is.

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The enhanced version of last night’s State of the Union speech demonstrated the value of quality data visualizations. Chock full of charts, graphs and infographics, the visualizations reinforced the President’s message with a clarity and lack of chart junk rarely seen in presentations.

Whether you agree with the President’s assertions or not, or disagree with the biases presented in the charts (as all charts have biases), there’s no denying the beauty of the visualizations. As CEO of a data visualization company, it made me happy to see good visualizations being used in the public discourse.

Below I’ve collected the charts, graphs and select infographics from the speech last night. I excluded the infographics I felt lacked any data visualization components. Click on the image to see a bigger version. A link below each image will take you to the part of the speech displaying the visualization or you can tweet a link to the image.
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Do you make your decisions using real-time reports? Does your dashboard only show you your current metrics? Do your metrics fluctuate from report to report?

Your data analysis may be wrong.

By comparing irregular time periods, reacting to normal fluctuations and not knowing the previous state of your data, you can make bad decisions. Snapshots address these issues by recording the results of a data query at a specific point in time. By taking snapshots on a consistent schedule, you can see what’s changed, compare equal time periods for improved analysis and stop reacting to normal fluctuations in your data.

Snapshots help you see what changed and what didn’t. They allow you to manage by exception, detect trends and, when done right, ignore normal fluctuations. In a world focused on real-time reporting, snapshots give you needed longer-term perspective.

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A couple of weeks ago I was asked about how visualization related to Big Data. I am far from a Big Data expert, but I know the basics and have been studying and selling visualization solutions for the past seven years. This article describes my thoughts on visualizing Big Data, not as a definitive statement, but as an exploration of ideas. Continue reading >