ABSTRACT
Data visualisation is a research method that uses visualisation to help researchers better understand data, see patterns, recognise trends and communicate findings. Researchers approaching their work from a variety of epistemological positions and theoretical perspectives use data visualisation as a research method, and it is used in both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Large datasets can often appear overwhelming: data visualisation methods help to make them more manageable and present data in a visually-engaging way to a much wider audience. Hand-drawn and printed visualisation has been used for hundreds of years, but recent advances in software and visualisation tools, along with the increasing collection and use of big data, have led to a rapid increase in the use of data visualisation as a digital research method. Researchers at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, are in the process of developing ‘online wizards to let users easily create and customize interactive visualizations with their own network and geospatial data’.
