PPSTT…The Secret to Reading Graphs Like a Scientist

This video explains the PPSTT framework for making sense of any graph. It was developed with scientists based on how professional researchers analyze figures they've never seen before. The example uses data on word frequency in books scanned by Google (using the free Google Ngram Viewer), but it can be used to make sense of any new type of data visual. PPSTT stands for: • Patterns: What does your eye tell you? • Prompts: What are the words on the axis, title, and caption that give you clues about how to interpret the figure? • Strange: What sticks out? Did you notice weird axes, missing data points, outliers, or other oddities? • Takeaway: What's the story? How would you describe the main conclusions to a family member in a sentence or two? • Trust: Do you trust the takeaway given your analysis and what you know about the data source or who produced the figure? What other information do you want to know? What questions remain? 

Related resources

Topics

  • trends in data
  • correlation vs causation
  • PPSTT framework
  • interpreting graphs
  • scientific skepticism
  • media literacy
  • scientific inquiry
  • data literacy
  • data vis
  • graphs
  • charts