Mini-VLAT: A Short and Effective Measure of Visualization Literacy

Abstract

The visualization community regards visualization literacy as a necessary skill. Yet, despite the recent increase in research into visualization literacy by the education and visualization communities, we lack practical and time-effective instruments for the widespread measurements of people's comprehension and interpretation of visual designs. We present Mini-VLAT, a brief but practical visualization literacy test. The Mini-VLAT is a 12-item short form of the 53-item Visualization Literacy Assessment Test (VLAT). The Mini-VLAT is reliable (coefficient omega = 0.72) and strongly correlates with the VLAT. Five visualization experts validated the Mini-VLAT items, yielding an average content validity ratio (CVR) of 0.6. We further validate Mini-VLAT by demonstrating a strong positive correlation between study participants' Mini-VLAT scores and their aptitude for learning an unfamiliar visualization using a Parallel Coordinate Plot test. Overall, the Mini-VLAT items showed a similar pattern of validity and reliability as the 53-item VLAT. The results show that Mini-VLAT is a psychometrically sound and practical short measure of visualization literacy.

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• Viral Visualizations: How Coronavirus Skeptics Use Orthodox Data Practices to Promote Unorthodox Science Online
• Does Interaction Improve Bayesian Reasoning with Visualization?

Cited by in corpus (4)

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• Challenges and Opportunities in Data Visualization Education: A Call to Action
• Trustworthy by Design: The Viewer's Perspective on Trust in Data Visualization
• The Gulf of Interpretation: From Chart to Message and Back Again