The Effect of Information Visualization Delivery on Narrative Construction and Development

We conducted a between-subject experiment with 32 participants to explore how two different models of information visualization delivery influence narratives constructed by audiences. The first model involves direct narrative by a speaker using visualization software to tell a data story, while the second model involves constructing a story by interactively exploring the visualization software. We used an open-ended questionnaire in a controlled laboratory settings in which the primary goal was to collect a number of written data stories derived from the two models. The participants’ data stories and answers were all analysed and coded using a number of themes, including insight types, and narrative structures. Our findings show that while the delivery model does not significantly affect how easy or difficult the participants found telling a data story to be, it does have an effect on the tendency to identify and use outliers insights in the data story if they are not distracted from this by direct narration, and on the narrative structure and depth of the data story. Our approach to data analysis and different storytelling axes can be usefully applied to other studies and comparisons of storytelling approaches.