When Data Doesn’t Speak for Itself: Storyboarding to Find A Narrative

Sara Stoudt

@sastoudt

sas072@bucknell.edu

What is a storyboard?

• visual outline used in movie making → set of figures and tables with connecting text from an exploratory phase of analysis
• tactile way to group, filter, and order intermediate products of an analysis to find the bigger picture

https://oaklandliving.wordpress.com/2010/12/29/last-chance-to-see-pixar-at-oakland-museum-of-california/

How do I make a storyboard?

0. Choose a dataset.

1. Collect tables and plots. (Exploratory Data Analysis - EDA)
2. Group related findings.
3. Make an argument (find the story).
4. Choose the tables and plots needed to tell your story.
5. Sequence the chosen tables and plots
6. Add captions and transitions.
7. Iterate.

• SAT scores going into each part of University
• Pretty even over years and across parts
• Overall acceptance rate per part
• College of Management a bit more competitive
• Translation of applied/accepted as # rather than %
• Shows absolute numbers are larger in Arts & Sciences
• Accepted v. Enrolled (Who decides to come?)
• Increase in admission a bit, even in enrolled
• Research Experience
• More variable over time, a little more in A&S but absolute numbers are bigger
• Salary post-graduation
• Some variation (grain of salt - small sample size and response bias)

My students’ story:

^#1

<- #2

^#3

<- #4 #5 →

#6 →

Logistics

• In person: index cards and post-it notes
• Online: Google Slides

Your turn!

Breakout Rooms (20 minutes)

Share (10 minutes)

Questions (10 minutes)

Data from Tidy Tuesday initiative - Pumpkin Competition :D

Breakout Room 1

Breakout Room 2

Breakout Room 3

Breakout Room 4

Breakout Room 5

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Questions?

sas072@bucknell.edu

@sastoudt

http://datasciencebydesign.org/book https://global.oup.com/academic/product/communicating-with-data-9780198862758

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https://mathstatbites.org/

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