visualising montioring and evaluation data

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Data Visualization Technology for Monitoring and Evaluation 25 th September 2015

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Page 1: Visualising montioring and evaluation data

Data VisualizationTechnology for Monitoring and

Evaluation25th September 2015

Page 2: Visualising montioring and evaluation data

Introduction

• Kwantu is a Cape Town social enterprise trying to make M&E easier

• We make affordable mobile and web apps to manage and monitor activities

• Includes integrated tools for analysis and reporting

Page 3: Visualising montioring and evaluation data

Introduction

• This presentation was given to the TechChange Technology for Monitoring and Evaluation Diploma

• See https://www.techchange.org/online-courses/me-diploma-track/ for details

Page 4: Visualising montioring and evaluation data

Overview

• Why visualize data?• Where to start?• Which tools?• Our approach• Our technology choices

Page 5: Visualising montioring and evaluation data

Why visualize data?

• Unlock valuable insights• Efficient way to analyze large datasets• Easier to see patterns in the data• Can help to predict trends• Less intimidating• Great way to communicate with busy

people

Page 6: Visualising montioring and evaluation data

What is data visualization?

Data visualization is the presentation of data in a pictorial or graphical

format

Page 7: Visualising montioring and evaluation data

What is data visualization?

• Maps• Charts• Pictures• Infographics (combine several

formats to tell a story)

Page 9: Visualising montioring and evaluation data

What is data visualization?

https://www.usaid.gov/infographics/50th/mobile-phones-tacking-poverty/

Page 10: Visualising montioring and evaluation data

Interactive visualizations

A picture is worth a thousand words. An interface is worth a thousand

pictures.

- Ben Shneiderman

Page 11: Visualising montioring and evaluation data

Interactive visualizations

• Goes one step further• Choose parameters that affect which

data you see and how it is visualised

Page 12: Visualising montioring and evaluation data

Interactive visualizations

http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/snake-oil-superfoods/

Page 14: Visualising montioring and evaluation data

Where to start?

• Clarify the questions you want to answer

• Start simple• Focus on what is really important• (your indicators?)

Page 15: Visualising montioring and evaluation data

Where to start?

• Understand your data• Do you have the data you need to

answer this question?• How big is your dataset?• Qualitative or quantitative?

Page 16: Visualising montioring and evaluation data

Where to start?

• Does it need to be:• Cleaned?• Reviewed?• Aggregated?• Transformed?• Coded?

Page 17: Visualising montioring and evaluation data

Where to start?

Need help?

• Fix problems - Open Refine – www.openrefine.org

• Prevent problems – See our approach to data collection in a later slide

Page 18: Visualising montioring and evaluation data

Where to start?

• Which type of visualization can best help my target audience answer the question?

• What type of visual will convey the information in the simplest and clearest way to your audience?

Page 19: Visualising montioring and evaluation data

Tools - Scenario one – I’m new to data visualisation and on a low budget

• Take a look at:

• Excel• Google Spreadsheets• Google Map Maker• MapAList

Page 20: Visualising montioring and evaluation data

Tools - Scenario two – I’ve got some experience and want to delve deeper

• Take a look at:

• Pentaho Business Analytics• Jasper Reports• Google Fusion Tablets• Tableau• Bamboo• R

Page 21: Visualising montioring and evaluation data

Tools - Scenario two – I’ve got some experience and want to delve deeper

• These tools are designed to create a data warehouse (database) of your data

• They include tools to analyse and visualise data

• They can help you create interactive reports, charts and maps

Page 22: Visualising montioring and evaluation data

Tools - Scenario three – I’m working with developers and want to extend our current

M&E systems

• Take a look at:

• D3• Kibana• Vega• Processing.js• Gephi (network analysis)

Page 23: Visualising montioring and evaluation data

Tools - Scenario three – I’m working with developers and want to extend our current

M&E systems

• These libraries and frameworks are designed to integrate with other web applications

• They include pre-developed charts, maps and other visualisations that make it easy for a developer to display data visually

• They are typically also interactive

Page 24: Visualising montioring and evaluation data

Our approach

• Our aim is to help partners implement real-time (and interactive) data visualizations

• Aim to avoid need to manually process data first

• This means integrating measures to validate and code the data from the outset

Page 25: Visualising montioring and evaluation data

Our approach

• We do this by collecting data operationally, as part of day to day activities

• Data processing is built into the activity

• Caution! Avoid use of forms that collect pre-aggregated data sets

• Collect data at lowest level possible

Page 26: Visualising montioring and evaluation data

Our approach

• This avoids the need for data reviews and cleaning

• It makes it possible to implement real-time reports and visualizations

Page 27: Visualising montioring and evaluation data

Our technology choices

• Form builder tool:• Create forms for use on web or mobile

(offline) that collect data at the activity level

• Builds a ‘data dictionary’ for reporting• Allows for relational linkages between

forms• Based on Atom XML standard

• Collect well validated and coded data

Page 28: Visualising montioring and evaluation data

Our technology choices

• Taxonomy tool:• Create taxonomies to help filter and

cross-reference data in your forms• Closed responses to questions• Gender• Age range• Location

• Standardize responses and filters

Page 29: Visualising montioring and evaluation data

Our technology choices

• Query builder tool:• Select any form(s)• Filter by date range, taxonomy or

workflow step etc.• Create a dynamic data feed

• Separates the data layer from presentation layer

Page 30: Visualising montioring and evaluation data

Our technology choices

• Workflow engine:• Guides staff through implementation

steps• Which forms to complete and when• Review steps to check data as it’s

being collected• Validate data operationally as

activities are implemented

Page 31: Visualising montioring and evaluation data

Our technology choices

• Report builder: • Uses open source Jasper engine and also

Google Drive API to export data• Map fields from your data feed to your own

names• Select which data to show on your report• Export to Excel or PDF

• Enables you to answer questions as they arise

Page 32: Visualising montioring and evaluation data

Our technology choices

• Visualizations: (Q1 2016) • Integrate with open source Kibana

framework• Has built in tools to create visualizations• Updates in real-time• Can include data from other databases

(integrate with other systems)• Create new visualizations to answer

questions as they arise

Page 33: Visualising montioring and evaluation data

Do you need help with data visualization?

Rob [email protected]