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Title: An Autoethnography on Visualization Literacy: A Wicked Measurement Problem
We contribute an autoethnographic reflection on the complexity of defining and measuring visualization literacy (i.e., the ability to interpret and construct visualizations) to expose our tacit thoughts that often exist in-between polished works and remain unreported in individual research papers. Our work is inspired by the growing number of empirical studies in visualization research that rely on visualization literacy as a basis for developing effective data representations or educational interventions. Researchers have already made various efforts to assess this construct, yet it is often hard to pinpoint either what we want to measure or what we are effectively measuring. In this autoethnography, we gather insights from 14 internal interviews with researchers who are users or designers of visualization literacy tests. We aim to identify what makes visualization literacy assessment a ``wicked'' problem. We further reflect on the fluidity of visualization literacy and discuss how this property may lead to misalignment between what the construct is and how measurements of it are used or designed. We also examine potential threats to measurement validity from conceptual, operational, and methodological perspectives. Based on our experiences and reflections, we propose several calls to action aimed at tackling the wicked problem of visualization literacy measurement, such as by broadening test scopes and modalities, improving test ecological validity, making it easier to use tests, seeking interdisciplinary collaboration, and drawing from continued dialogue on visualization literacy to expect and be more comfortable with its fluidity.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2403094
PAR ID:
10652382
Author(s) / Creator(s):
 ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  
Publisher / Repository:
IEEE
Date Published:
Journal Name:
IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics
ISSN:
1077-2626
Page Range / eLocation ID:
1 to 11
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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