This study is intended to assess how people perceive statistical graphs and charts, and how charts are used to make decisions. If you are 18 years of age or older (19+ in Nebraska and Alabama, 21+ in Mississippi), and have normal or corrected-to-normal vision, you may participate in this research.
Statistical charts and graphs are everywhere – in news articles, advertisements, and on TV. We are interested in whether people read information from charts accurately, and whether certain types of charts are more useful when making data-informed decisions. Unfortunately, we know relatively little about how people read and perceive charts. This study is designed to address this gap in research by systematically investigating the use of charts in different tasks and contexts. In order to participate you must be 18 years of age or older (19+ in Nebraska and Alabama, 21+ in Mississippi) and have normal or corrected-to-normal vision.
Participation in this study should require less than 30 minutes of your time. You will be asked to look at statistical charts and then answer questions or complete tasks based on the visualization and contextual information.
You may be asked to estimate, predict, or make decisions based on one or more graphs. You will be able to provide an explanation of your response, if you choose to do so.
We expect that each of these tasks will take less than 3 minutes to complete. We will start out with practice questions so that you can become accustomed to the interface. After the practice task(s), there will be a series of questions. You will also be asked for some demographic information, such as your age, education level, and occupation.
Participation will take place in a location of your choosing, on your computer.
There are no known risks to you from being in this research study.
You are not expected to get any benefit from being in this study."
You will not be paid to take part in this study.
Reasonable steps will be taken to protect the privacy and the confidentiality of your study data; however, in some circumstances we cannot guarantee absolute privacy and/or confidentiality. This study will never link personally identifying information with your responses.
The research records will be securely stored electronically through University approved methods and will only be seen by the research team and/or those authorized to view, access, or use the records during the study.
Those who will have access to your research records are the study personnel, the Institutional Review Board (IRB), and any other person, agency, or sponsor as required by law or contract or institutional responsibility. The information from this study may be published in scientific journals or presented at scientific meetings. The individual data records, plus summaries and group-level analyses, will be published, but your identity will be kept strictly confidential.
You may ask any questions concerning this research and have those questions answered before agreeing to participate in or during the study.
For study related questions, please contact Dr. Susan Vanderplas (susan.vanderplas@unl.edu)
For questions concerning your rights or complaints about the research contact the Institutional Review Board (IRB):
You can decide not to be in this research study, or you can stop being in this research study (withdraw) at any time before, during, or after the research begins for any reason. Deciding not to be in this research study or deciding to withdraw will not affect your relationship with the investigator or with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.