Indicator distance and color effects in comprehension of multiple time series graph

• Main Authors: Seva, Rosemary R., Chinjen, Katrina, Estoista, Nicole, Wu, Judy Ann
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2020
• Subjects: Information visualization; Colors; Time-series analysis > Charts, diagrams, etc.; Industrial Engineering; Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/2815
• Institution: De La Salle University

Line graphs are prevalently used to show trend especially time series. However, there is limited study on the influence of visual properties in complex comprehension tasks such as determining differences in slope. In this study, the effect of color hue and horizontal distance between points were considered in a slope task. Monochrome palettes using blue, green and red were developed to illustrate 4-time series data. Saturation was fixed while lightness were varied. Horizontal distance between points were set to 1.67, 2.00 and 2.5 cm while maintaining a constant height of 6 cm. Red resulted in the worst performance in terms of response time (RT) and accuracy. As for distance, data suggest that lower values negatively influence response time and accuracy. The best RT was obtained for high setting and highest accuracy for medium setting. Colors of monochrome palettes used did not significantly influence RT and accuracy. The hypothesis that red can improve perception of slope was rejected. In this study, graph understanding was improved although statistically insignificant by blue. High and medium horizontal distance settings significantly affected performance in slope tasks invalidating the hypothesis posited in this study. Accuracy can best be improved by using the medium distance setting while RT is best at high distance setting. © IEOM Society International.