09. Getting and Using Feedback

Getting and Using Feedback

When putting together a report or presentation to communicate results to others, it never hurts to get outside eyes on your work to make sure that your findings are conveyed clearly. Asking colleagues, friends, or family to provide feedback can be a good step to making sure that the story that you wish to tell hits its mark.

When you present your work to the reader, let them go through the work for themselves first. Then, follow up with them to check whether or not their conclusions match what you were hoping to convey. The following questions might be good starters; be sure to follow up or come up with your own questions:

• What do you notice about each visualization?
• What questions do you have about the data?
• What relationships do you notice?
• What do you think is the main takeaway from the report / presentation?
• Is there anything that you don’t understand from the plots?

Use the feedback that you get from your reader to iterate on and improve on your designs. The alternative perspective that they have may reveal things that you didn't consider or points that require further clarification.