Margaret L. Satterthwaite

The Persuasive Power of Data Visualization

Data visualization has been used extensively to inform users. However, little research has been done to examine the effects of data visualization in influencing users or in making a message more persuasive. In this study, we present experimental research to fill this gap and present an evidence-based analysis of persuasive visualization. We built on persuasion research from psychology and user interfaces literature in order to explore the persuasive effects of visualization. In this experimental study we define the circumstances under which data visualization can make a message more persuasive, propose hypotheses, and perform quantitative and qualitative analyses on studies conducted to test these hypotheses. We compare visual treatments with data presented through barcharts and linecharts on the one hand, treatments with data presented through tables on the other, and then evaluate their persuasiveness. The findings represent a first step in exploring the effectiveness of persuasive visualization.

How Deceptive are Deceptive Visualizations?: An Empirical Analysis of Common Distortion Techniques

In this paper, we present an empirical analysis of deceptive visualizations. We start with an in-depth analysis of what deception means in the context of data visualization, and categorize deceptive visualizations based on the type of deception they lead to. We identify popular distortion techniques and the type of visualizations those distortions can be applied to, and formalize why deception occurs with those distortions. We create four deceptive visualizations using the selected distortion techniques, and run a crowdsourced user study to identify the deceptiveness of those visualizations. We then present the findings of our study and show how deceptive each of these visual distortion techniques are, and for what kind of questions the misinterpretation occurs. We also analyze individual differences among participants and present the effect of some of those variables on participants responses. This paper presents a first step in empirically studying deceptive visualizations, and will pave the way for more research in this direction.

Woch Nan Soley: The Denial of the Right to Water in Haiti

This article combines health and water research results, evidence from confidential documents released under the Freedom of Information Act, legal analysis, and discussion of historical context to demonstrate that actions taken by the international community through the Inter-American Development Bank are directly related to a lack of access to clean water in Haiti. The article demonstrates that these actions constitute a clear violation of Haitians right to water under both domestic and international law. The article exposes the United States governments role in blocking the disbursal of millions of dollars in international bank loans that would have had life-saving consequences for the Haitian people. The loans were derailed in 2001 by politically-motivated interventions on behalf of the US and other members of the international community in direct violation of the Inter-American Development Bank charter. To demonstrate the impact of these interventions, the article presents data gathered in a study that employed human rights and public health methodologies to assess the right to water in Haiti. The data reveal that Haitians experience obstacles concerning every aspect of the right to water: diffculties with water availability, limited physical and economic accessibility, and poor water quality. The article provides a framework of concrete duties and obligations that should be followed by all actors involved in Haiti in order to realize Haitians human right to water. In response to the undeniable link between the international communitys political interference and the intolerably poor state of potable water in Haiti, the article concludes with a recommendation that all actors in Haiti follow a rights-based approach to the development and implementation of water projects in Haiti. The full report of Wòch nan Soley: The Denial of the Right to Water in Haiti is available online at http://www.pih.org/inforesources/Reports/Hait_Report_FINAL.pdf.

On Rights-Based Partnerships to Measure Progress in Water and Sanitation

The right to water and sanitation has emerged from the penumbra of associated rights in the past few decades and now plays an important role in international debates. This right has emerged “from below”, through the efforts of social movements seeking transformation in the lives of the world’s poor, and it has been recognized “from above”, with major international actors such as the United Nations, international financial institutions, and even large corporate actors affirming its existence. As the obligations and entitlements inherent in this right are increasingly clarified, the role of interdisciplinary collaboration has never been more important. This short Commentary examines one such collaborative effort, led by the United Nations Joint Monitoring Programme, to devise post-2015 goals, targets, and indicators for water, sanitation, and hygiene. The Commentary calls for renewed partnerships to advance human rights-based policy among advocates, development practitioners, and water and sanitation experts from diverse scientific fields.

Showing People Behind Data: Does Anthropomorphizing Visualizations Elicit More Empathy for Human Rights Data?

We investigate the impact of using anthropomorphized data graphics over standard charts on viewers empathy for, and prosocial behavior toward suffering populations, in the context of human rights narratives. We present a series of experiments conducted on Amazon Mechanical Turk, in which we compare various forms of anthropomorphized data graphics-ranging from a single human figure that fills up to show proportional data, to separated groups of individual human beings-with a standard chart baseline. Each experiment uses two carefully crafted human rights data-driven stories to present the graphics. Contrary to our expectations, we consistently find that anthropomorphized data graphics and standard charts have very similar effects on empathy and prosocial behavior.

Mental health functioning in the human rights field: Findings from an international internet-based survey

Human rights advocates play a critical role in promoting respect for human rights world-wide, and engage in a broad range of strategies, including documentation of rights violations, monitoring, press work and report-writing, advocacy, and litigation. However, little is known about the impact of human rights work on the mental health of human rights advocates. This study examined the mental health profile of human rights advocates and risk factors associated with their psychological functioning. 346 individuals currently or previously working in the field of human rights completed an internet-based survey regarding trauma exposure, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), resilience and occupational burnout. PTSD was measured with the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist-Civilian Version (PCL-C) and depression was measured with the Patient History Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). These findings revealed that among human rights advocates that completed the survey, 19.4% met criteria for PTSD, 18.8% met criteria for subthreshold PTSD, and 14.7% met criteria for depression. Multiple linear regressions revealed that after controlling for symptoms of depression, PTSD symptom severity was predicted by human rights-related trauma exposure, perfectionism and negative self-appraisals about human rights work. In addition, after controlling for symptoms of PTSD, depressive symptoms were predicted by perfectionism and lower levels of self-efficacy. Survey responses also suggested high levels of resilience: 43% of responders reported minimal symptoms of PTSD. Although survey responses suggest that many human rights workers are resilient, they also suggest that human rights work is associated with elevated rates of PTSD and depression. The field of human rights would benefit from further empirical research, as well as additional education and training programs in the workplace about enhancing resilience in the context of human rights work.

Coping flexibility predicts post-traumatic stress disorder and depression in human rights advocates

ABSTRACT An emerging body of research on individuals exposed to trauma shows that the ability to flexibly employ different coping styles is associated with better adjustment. Specifically, individuals who use both “trauma-focused” (focusing on the experience and significance of a potentially traumatic event) and “forward-focused” (optimism, helping others, goal-oriented thinking) coping styles exhibit less psychological disturbance after trauma exposure than those with less coping flexibility. We investigated whether greater coping flexibility is associated with less Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) in an international sample of human rights advocates. In an online, cross-sectional study, 346 international human rights advocates completed self-reported measures of PTSD, MDD, trauma exposure, and the Perceived Ability to Cope with Trauma (PACT) scale. Results showed that coping flexibility was associated with lower rates and symptom severity of PTSD and MDD. Whereas both trauma-focused and forward-focused coping were associated with lower rates of PTSD, the inverse relationship between coping flexibility and MDD was driven primarily by less forward-focused coping. These findings are the first to show that lower levels of coping flexibility may be an important factor underlying vulnerability to PTSD and MDD among human rights advocates. Longitudinal studies are needed to clarify whether coping flexibility can mitigate the potential negative mental health impact of traumatic stress over the course of one’s career in international human rights advocacy.

Leaving no one behind? Persistent inequalities in the SDGs

ABSTRACT With a rallying cry of ‘leave no one behind’, the Sustainable Development Agenda has moved inequalities centre stage. A number of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) include a cross-cutting focus on inequalities and the advancement of some communities that have historically experienced discrimination. However, the litmus test for whether the SDGs will truly ‘leave no one behind’ is not the inclusion of such (aspirational) language, but whether this language will translate into implementation. In that regard, monitoring through indicators will play an important role. As metrics pegged to specific targets, indicators have the power to concentrate effort and attention. Moving beyond aggregate outcomes will require that the data related to these indicators be sufficiently disaggregated to demonstrate the existence, magnitude and interplay of multiple forms of inequalities. However, despite a mandate to produce disaggregated data, there has been little attention to disaggregation based on some of the most important axes of discrimination – especially race or ethnicity. Human rights call for focusing on those who are often pushed to the margins of society – through political, social and economic processes as well as by data collection and analysis itself.