Visualizing Qualitative Data

A big part of my job these days is supporting campus researchers in their use of NVivo, a tool for analyzing qualitative data. While NVivo does offer some data visualization options, in my workshops I describe it as, “Microsoft Office-level”. In other words, not terribly sophisticated, and that’s fine.

But I’m always keen to see examples of how qualitative data can be displayed visually, and I found a recent post on the Datawrapper blog wonderful. Rose Mintzer-Sweeney took a look at data gathered by a recent Pew Research Center study and used Datawrapper to highlight certain aspects. Her visuals are at The meanings of life, and represent her reinterpretation of the data from Pew at What Makes Life Meaningful? Views From 17 Advanced Economies. (<– that sucker goes on for pages!)

Oh, and of course the results overall are simply fascinating, too!