"Charts and graphs are a method of organizing information for a unique purpose. The purpose may be to inform, to persuade, to obtain a clear understanding of certain facts, or to focus information and attention on a particular problem. The information contained in charts and graphs must, obviously, be relevant to the purpose. For decision-making purposes. information must be focused clearly on the issue or issues requiring attention. The need is not simply for 'information', but for structured information, clearly presented and narrowed to fit a distinctive decision-making context. An advantage of having a 'formula' or 'model' appropriate to a given situation is that the formula indicates what kind of information is needed to obtain a solution or answer to a specific problem." (Cecil H Meyers, "Handbook of Basic Graphs: A modern approach", 1970)
"Statistical techniques do not solve any of the common-sense difficulties about making causal inferences. Such techniques may help organize or arrange the data so that the numbers speak more clearly to the question of causality - but that is all statistical techniques can do. All the logical, theoretical, and empirical difficulties attendant to establishing a causal relationship persist no matter what type of statistical analysis is applied." (Edward R Tufte, "Data Analysis for Politics and Policy", 1974)
"We can gain further insight into what makes good plots by thinking about the process of visual perception. The eye can assimilate large amounts of visual information, perceive unanticipated structure, and recognize complex patterns; however, certain kinds of patterns are more readily perceived than others. If we thoroughly understood the interaction between the brain, eye, and picture, we could organize displays to take advantage of the things that the eye and brain do best, so that the potentially most important patterns are associated with the most easily perceived visual aspects in the display." (John M Chambers et al, "Graphical Methods for Data Analysis", 1983)
"Statistical techniques do not solve any of the common-sense difficulties about making causal inferences. Such techniques may help organize or arrange the data so that the numbers speak more clearly to the question of causality - but that is all statistical techniques can do. All the logical, theoretical, and empirical difficulties attendant to establishing a causal relationship persist no matter what type of statistical analysis is applied.
"Tables are [...] the backbone of most statistical reports. They provide the basic substance and foundation on which conclusions can be based. They are considered valuable for the following reasons: (1) Clarity - they present many items of data in an orderly and organized way. (2) Comprehension - they make it possible to compare many figures quickly. (3) Explicitness - they provide actual numbers which document data presented in accompanying text and charts. (4) Economy - they save space, and words. (5) Convenience - they offer easy and rapid access to desired items of information." (Peter H Selby, "Interpreting Graphs and Tables", 1976)
"A good chart delineates and organizes information. It communicates complex ideas, procedures, and lists of facts by simplifying, grouping, and setting and marking priorities. By spatial organization, it should lead the eye through information smoothly and efficiently." (Mary H Briscoe, "Preparing Scientific Illustrations: A guide to better posters, presentations, and publications" 2nd ed., 1995)
"A graphical display, when used appropriately, can be a powerful tool for organizing and summarizing data. By sacrificing some of the detail of a complete listing of a data set, important features of the data distribution are more easily seen and more easily communicated to others." (Roxy Peck et al, "Introduction to Statistics and Data Analysis" 4th Ed., 2012)
"Descriptive statistics is the branch of statistics that includes methods for organizing and summarizing data. Inferential statistics is the branch of statistics that involves generalizing from a sample to the population from which the sample was selected and assessing the reliability of such generalizations." (Roxy Peck et al, "Introduction to Statistics and Data Analysis" 4th Ed., 2012)
"Competition for your audiences attention is fierce. The fact that infographics are unique allows organizations an opportunity to make the content they are publishing stand out and get noticed." (Mark Smiciklas, "The Power of Inforgraphics", 2012)
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