The Challenge of Information Visualization Evaluation
Catherine Plaisant
There are 4 traditional methods for evaluation of Information Visualization:
- Controlled Experiments comparing design elements - compare specific widgets, compare mappings of information to graphical display
- Usability Evaluation of a tool - used to provide feedback on the problems users encounter with a tool
- Controlled Experiments comparing two (or more) tools - try to compare a novel tool to the state of the art
- Case Studies of tools in realistic settings - This is the least common type of study. It’s a longer term study, in the natural environment, doing real tasks. Problems are hard to replicate / generalize.
As Info Viz is entering the mainstream, early adopters are starting to use Info Viz software on a more frequent basis. Middle and later adopters will follow, of course.
