Multivariate Display

 

In creating this multivariate display I was trying to determine which popular coffee shops around campus have the lowest pricing. I chose Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks, and Sip n Dip because those seem to be most common among students on campus.  Since each shop has many different items for sale I decided to pick three of the same type and size to compare. By doing this I got more information about the overall companies than if I compared just one item as well as narrowed it down to items that are as close to each other as possible. In creating the visual I realized that the bar graph with each item and each company was useful because it broke down the information for the audience. The combining of the information into three columns of the companies was more useful in getting across the message of pricing per store. I realized in creating this visual that there could be many ways to display the same information, some getting across the same message and some focusing on something else. This was an “AHA” moment for me when I realized that the message sent to a viewer using a graph is heavily reliable on the visual representation of the data and not just the data alone. In looking at my data I also realized that people chose coffee beyond pricing. The three I chose are basically of equal accessibility to students meaning that taste, quality, or other factors play a role in purchasing coffee otherwise the majority of people would go to Sip n Dip. Using the same data people can display very different messages using graphs in a certain way. For example, with the data I collected I was comparing the companies’ pricing but with the same information someone else could use a graph to display the pricing of coffee and hot chocolate. There has to be planning and thought behind graphs to send the viewer the message you want them to receive.