Ethical conceptual replication of visualization research considering sources of methodological bias and practical significance

General design principles for visualization have been relatively well-established based on a combination of cognitive and perceptual theory and empirical evaluations over the past 20 years. To determine how these principles hold up across use contexts and end-users, I argue that we should emphasize conceptual replication focused on determining practical significance and reducing methodological biases. This shift in thinking aims to determine how design principles interact with methodological approaches, laying the groundwork for visualization meta-science.Comment: Submitted to contribute to the discussion at VisPsych2020, a workshop at the IEEE Visualization Conference 2020 Salt Lake City. For associated code, see https://osf.io/ebwx9

How does your viewing perspective matter for decision-making with flood risk maps?*

The globally increasing frequency of flood events highlights the importance of effective flood risk communication. The influence of the viewing perspective of mapped flood events on human risk perception has not yet been a research focus of the geovisualization community. This empirical study aims to fill this gap by investigating how the viewing perspective of flood risk maps, that is, 2D orthographic vs. 2.5D oblique views, influence human flood risk perception and decision-making. Results on how viewing perspective might influence measured risk perception are in line with prior inconclusive research on the utility and usability of adding a third viewing dimension on static maps. Unlike prior research would have suggested, we find that the individual risk attitude of our participants had no direct influence on their risk ratings in the context of this study. With additional empirical evidence on how static 2D and oblique 2.5D hazard maps might influence the public’s risk perception and decision-making, we hope to further inform policy and decision makers on the critical importance of well-designed cartographic displays for effective and efficient hazard and risk communication. We also provide an open-source code repository for making reproducible experiments with our static maps

Leveraging Different Visual Designs for Communication of Severe Weather Events and their Uncertainty

In this work, we present several interactive visual designs for mobile visualization of severe weather events for the communication of weather hazards, their risks, uncertainty, and recommended actions. Our approach is based on previous work on uncertainty visualization [5], cognitive science [6], and decision sciences for risk management [3, 4]. We propose six configurations that vary the ratio of text vs graphics used in the visual display, and the interaction workflow needed for a non-expert user to make an informed decision and effective actions. Our goal is to test how efficient these configurations are and to what degree they are suitable to communicate weather hazards, associated uncertainty, risk, and recommended actions to non-experts. Future steps include two cycle of evaluations, consisting of a first pilot to rapidly test the prototype with a small number of participants, collect actionable insights, and incorporate potential improvements. In a second user study, we will perform a crowd-sourced extensive evaluation of the visualization prototypes

Ethical conceptual replication of visualization research considering sources of methodological bias and practical significance

General design principles for visualization have been relatively well-established based on a combination of cognitive and perceptual theory and empirical evaluations over the past 20 years. To determine how these principles hold up across use contexts and end-users, I argue that we should emphasize conceptual replication focused on determining practical significance and reducing methodological biases. This shift in thinking aims to determine how design principles interact with methodological approaches, laying the groundwork for visualization meta-science

Improving pedestrians' spatial learning during landmark-based navigation with auditory emotional cues and narrative

Even if we are not aware, our emotions can influence and interplay with our navigation and use of mobile navigation aids. A given map display can make us feel good by reminding us of pleasant past experiences, or it can make us feel frustrated because we are not able to understand the information provided. Navigation aids could also make a given landmark emotionally charged, and thus more salient and memorable for a navigator, for example, by using an auditory narrative containing emotional cues. By storytelling, it would also be possible to provide details about a given landmark and connect proximal landmarks to each other. But how do navigational instructions in the form of emotional storytelling affect spatial memory and map use? Results from a preliminary study indicated that a video presentation viewed from a first person perspective is looked at more often than an abstract map, and this evidence becomes even stronger when instructions are emotionally laden. We discuss results in the context of place meaning and how emotions’ role in navigation should be further assessed, in particular to increase spatial learning from navigation aids

Non-expert interpretations of hurricane forecast uncertainty visualizations

Data for Ruginski et al. (2016) paper in special issue of Spatial Cognition and Computation on Visually-supported reasoning with uncertaint

Effects of uncertainty visualization on map-based decision making under time pressure

Most of our daily activities in a highly mobile digital society require timely spatial decision-making. Much of such decision-making is supported by map displays on various devices with different modalities. Spatial information visualized on maps, however, is always subject to a multitude of uncertainties. If space-time decision-makers are not informed about potential uncertainties, misleading, or at worst, life-threatening outcomes might result from map-based decisions. Therefore, data uncertainties should be communicated to decision-makers, especially when they are made with limited time resources and when decision outcomes can have dramatic consequences. Thus, the current study investigates how data uncertainty visualized in maps might influence the process and outcomes of spatial decision-making, especially when made under time pressure in risky situations. Although there is very little empirical evidence from prior uncertainty visualization research that considered decision time constraints, we hypothesized that uncertainty visualization would also have an effect on decision-making under time critical and complex decision contexts. Using a map-based helicopter landing scenario in mountainous terrain, we found that neither time pressure nor uncertainty affected participants decision-making accuracy. However, uncertainty affected participants' decision strategies, and time pressure affected participants' response times. Specifically, when presented with two equally correct answers, participants avoided uncertainty more often at a cost of landing distance (an equally important decision criteria). We interpret our results as consistent with a loss-aversion heuristic and suggest implications for the study of decision-making with uncertainty visualizations

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationDecades of research have attempted to establish factor structures for small-scale spatial abilities and larger-scale, navigation-based spatial abilities, such as spatial memory for landmarks during navigation. Findings suggest that small-scale abilities, such as mental rotation of 2-D objects, predict spatial memory for landmarks. Additionally, in hunter-gatherer populations and in a few industrialized samples, increased home range (a measure of mobility) relates to better small-scale spatial abilities. Mobility can be defined as an individual's tendency to range from home on both small- and large-scales, including frequency and method of travel. Despite the fact that the imagined transformations implemented when navigating in the world are used and likely honed when navigating, mobility has not been implemented into models of individual differences in spatial abilities to our knowledge. The current study validates a novel self-report measure of mobility using established laboratory measures of spatial ability, as well as integrates mobility into a theoretical model of spatial abilities. We planned to test a theoretical model of mobility resulting in increased small-scale spatial abilities (mental rotation & perspective taking), leading to increased visual learning ability for novel environments using a virtual environment laboratory task. However, no direct effects of mobility were found on small-scale spatial ability or visual learning ability during validation of self-reported travel frequency, a key aspect of mobility. Instead, we tested a model featuring a proxy of how one navigates when mobile - self-reported GPS-use - in place of frequency and distance traveled. We found that small-scale mental rotation and perspective taking ability mediates the direct effect of GPS-use on visual learning ability. In other words, lesser self-reported GPS-use is associated with increased mental rotation performance (a dynamic intrinsic small-scale spatial ability), which is, in turn, associated with better perspective taking ability. Both of these spatial abilities relate to better visual learning ability. Specifically, these two small-scale spatial abilities completely accounted for a direct effect of GPS-use on visual learning, suggesting full mediation. Implications for research related to spatial abilities and navigation are discussed. We also discuss implications for the self-reported measure of mobility and future research on mobility