Sixth International Conference on Information Visualisation (IV'02)
Do Four Eyes See Better than Two? Collaborative versus Individual Discovery in Data Visualization Systems
London, England
July 10-July 12
ISBN: 0-7695-1656-4
We present an empirical study investigating collaborative and individual decision-making about data using two different information visualization systems. Based on previous research, one system is considered more transparent than the other in terms of visual representation and functionality. We found that people who worked in groups were more correct in their answers for objective questions, based on searching a large dataset. These results held for the more transparent system, but not the less transparent system. In a second task, groups were more accurate in their results for a free data discovery task. Again, these results held for the more transparent system only. Subjects using this system also produced results that were higher in complexity but judged lower in importance. Groups and individuals did not differ. We suggest that given the right visualization system, groups do better than individuals in finding more accurate results, but not necessarily increased or more meaningful results.
Citation:
Gloria Mark, Alfred Kobsa, Victor Gonzalez, "Do Four Eyes See Better than Two? Collaborative versus Individual Discovery in Data Visualization Systems," iv, pp.249, Sixth International Conference on Information Visualisation (IV'02), 2002