Visualisations and analysis in official statistics

Facilitating visualisations to the public

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CBS

2 036 employees

The Hague

Heerlen

Bonaire

1899 foundation

Economic & Business Statistics International Business background

Nuclear engineering & sustainable energy

Who am I?

Agenda

Statistics Netherlands: becoming a news organisation

Visualising data: how does it help to reach our goal?

The importance of data simplification Data analysis using visualisation in official statistics

Tableau demo, experiences and future

The lesser of two evils: choosing between what’s sound and

practical

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From official statistics to a news organisation

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How does it help reach our goal?

We visualise to correctly inform people: dissemination We visualise to draw attention: entertainment

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The importance of data simplification

– Advantages vs. Disadvantages

+ accessible, media ready, transparant, flexible - Loss of depth, unsound practices, interpretation

– Lying with statistics still applies! However……

– “lying”, highlighting or simplification

– Misunderstanding works both ways

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The importance of data simplification

1. Who are your stakeholders

2. Different needs means different solutions

3. Facilitate analysis: simple, transparent & flexible data

4. Publish, evaluate, adjust

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Visualisations in official Statistics I

Basic Visualisations are your bread and butter

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Visualisations in official Statistics II

Static visualisations of phenomena

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Great but not easy!

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Visualisations in official Statistics II

Static visualisations of phenomena

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Visualisations in official Statistics III

Interactive visualisations:

13 ArcGis Tableau

R, Excel, D3.js, Openstreetmaps, HTML etc.

Visualisations in official Statistics III

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Click me

Visualisations in official Statistics IV

Open data & Statline: infrastructure for visualisations

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Visualisations in official Statistics V

Combining I-IV Online Dashboards using Tableau https://public.tableau.com/views/DASHBOARDTOPSECTOREN2015/WELKOM 16

Lesser of two evils: practical problems

– Colour usage: associations with colour

– Zooming of graphs: start from 0?

– Cherry picking data: Highlighting or cherry picking?

– Data-oversimplification/complexity: one for all, full

disclosure and…margins?

– Making the news in the way you want

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Lesser of two evils: practical problems

“Experience is the teacher of all things” Julius Caesar

Share us yours!

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We are available for inquiries and questions:

Web: https://www.cbs.nl/en-gb/about-us/contact Contact Information:

Jorrit Swaneveld

+31 70 337 5616 | jm.swaneveld@cbs.nl

Statistics Netherlands | Economic and business statistics and national accounts

Business Statistics (The Hague)