Presenting information in diagrams

Conclusions

The following general conclusions may then be drawn:

• 1. Presenting factual information in diagrams, and even in pictorial charts, does not ensure that it will be understood and remembered any better than presenting it in tables of figures, altho greater interest may be created.

• 2. Special training is required to enable people to understand diagrams and make use of them properly.

• 3. The more complex and unfamiliar the information, the concepts, and ideas which it involves, the less likely are people to understand it, irrespective of the particular type of diagram used.

• 4. Certain sets of data, however, are shown best by certain types of diagram.

• 5. People usually understand diagrams better when they are accompanied by verbal explanation than when they are presented alone.

• 6. The best form of verbal explanation is given by a simple coherent logical argument. But readers require special training to enable them to utilize the graphical material effectively, that is to say, to recognize that it demonstrates the particular facts upon which the generalizations of the argument are based.