What is data storytelling?

Is it just data visualisation?

  • part of it

Is it ethical?

  • Assumes you’ve done the work to check your story is true
  • Parallels with p-hacking
  • Not telling a story often tells a story
  • Data is not neutral. Acknowledge and accept that.
  • You are not neutral.
  • “Data storytelling is unethical”
  • You’re forcing the data to support a specific argument.
  • Cherry picking facts.
  • Suggesting causal claims when there isn’t one.

Data storytelling ~ Data modelling

  • How do you choose which variables to include in a model?
    • Stepwise regression: Not good - biased.
    • LASSO: - biased towards fewer/harder to interpret.
    • Previous literature: can only choose from what’s already been studied - biased.
    • what you think it migh tbe. - biased.

You’re expected to do the work and make statistically valid, ethical choices. Why would data storytelling be any different?

Data is not neutral

Data is collected by someone. collected for something. funded by somone. data is ploticial. Data is biased. Who is represented by that data? Who is not represented by that data? The biases and inequalities in our society are reflected in data. Data is not neutral.

Letting the data speak for itself without context is not a neutral choice.

Illustrated by Valeri Gorbachev

Three Bears. Puss in Boots. Dreamworks.

Audience matters

Same data. Same story.

Different audience.

Different charts. Different words.

Know your audience

  • Who is your audience?
  • What do they already know?
  • What do you want them to do?

audiences

  • socials blog posts -> general public/broad

  • conference - stats, generic

  • journal paper - narrower, more detail

A layered approach

  • layered approaches

Structure

  • What does everybody need to know?
  • What do expert users need to know?

Women MPs example

You don’t have to tell the story in one chart

  • Break it out into stages
  • One chart showing national data
  • Then break it down to region/age groups
  • Especially for complex charts - avoid the “what am I looking at?*

Charts work better when accompanied by words

A picture is worth a thousand words

Narrative titles

Numeracy/literacy stats

  • Our job is not to simplify. Our job is to clarify. - alberto cairo.

Uncertainty