Data Visualization and Communication Flashcards
7 cards from real MS-DS Master of Data science practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Data Visualization and Communication flashcards as text
Pre-attentive attributes are visual properties processed by the human visual system before conscious attention. Which of the following is NOT a pre-attentive attribute?
Answer: 3D perspective depth cues
3D perspective requires cognitive processing to interpret; hue, length, and orientation are detected in parallel by low-level vision.
What is the main advantage of a slope chart over a grouped bar chart when showing change between two time periods?
Answer: It directly encodes the direction and magnitude of change through line slope
Slope charts use the angle and direction of a line to communicate change intuitively, whereas bar charts require the viewer to subtract bar heights mentally.
A choropleth map colors US states by average income. What is a known bias introduced by this approach?
Answer: Large low-population states dominate visual attention disproportionately
Geographic area ≠ population or importance, so sparsely populated states like Montana dominate the map visually while dense states like Rhode Island are barely visible.
Which of the following best describes the principle of 'small multiples' in data visualization?
Answer: Repeating the same chart structure across subsets of data for easy comparison
Small multiples (trellis/facet charts) replicate a chart layout across partitions of the data, leveraging consistent axes so the viewer can compare patterns across subgroups.
When designing a visualization for a colorblind audience, which color pair should be avoided most carefully?
Answer: Red and green
Red-green color blindness (deuteranopia/protanopia) is the most common form, affecting ~8% of males, making red/green distinction impossible.
In the grammar of graphics (ggplot2/Vega-Lite), what does 'aesthetic mapping' refer to?
Answer: Mapping data variables to visual channels such as x, y, color, size, or shape
Aesthetic mappings bind data columns to visual properties (encodings), forming the core of the grammar-of-graphics abstraction.
A data journalist uses a dual-axis line chart to show revenue (left axis) and customer satisfaction score (right axis) on the same plot. What is the primary risk?
Answer: Manually chosen axis scales can create misleading apparent correlations or divergences
By adjusting the y-axis ranges independently, the designer can make any two series appear correlated or anti-correlated, misleading the audience about their true relationship.