Visualization

A chart is an argument about what matters in a dataset. Choosing one is a methodological decision, so it is recorded with the analysis rather than left to the end as presentation.

The finding comes before the chart

The sentence stating what was found is written first, and the chart is chosen to support that sentence. Charts made before the claim tend to display whatever the tool defaults to, which is how a weak result acquires a confident-looking figure. What a good statistical brief does in four pages reads a statistical brief that does this well: each finding appears as a sentence with its number before any figure.

No encoding depends on color alone

Color may reinforce a distinction and may not be the only thing carrying it. Position, ordering, direct labels, and shape do the work, and hue is added on top. Charts that survive without color demonstrates the encodings this leaves available. The requirement follows WCAG 2.2 SC 1.4.1, which is treated here as a design constraint rather than a compliance step, per Accessibility.

Every figure carries its source and period

A chart without a source and a date is an assertion. The source, the period covered, the unit of observation, and the population are stated on or immediately beside the figure, not deferred to a methods appendix a reader will not open.

Uncertainty is drawn, not omitted

Where an estimate has a meaningful interval, the figure shows it. Where the analysis cannot distinguish a small effect from none, the chart is not drawn in a way that implies it can. The reporting standard is in the research method, and it governs figures as much as prose.

Axes are not truncated to make a difference look larger

A quantitative axis starts at zero unless there is a stated reason not to, and the reason appears in the caption. Rescaling to dramatize a small change is the most common way an honest analysis becomes a misleading figure.

Text alternatives are written, not generated

Every figure has a text alternative that states what the figure shows, including the finding. “Chart of spending by year” describes the container. “Spending rose from 4.2 to 6.8 million dollars between 2018 and 2023” describes the content, and is what a reader using a screen reader receives instead of the image.