How to Visualize Responsibly

Be mindful when you aggregate, because the assumption people have may become a causal one. So think carefully about how you present your data and maybe iterate with your own design team or with your data analysts so people don’t misinterpret what you’re trying to say.

Even the most sophisticated tool rarely, on its own, identifies causation. “It’s just really, really good at finding trends.

So if you see an exciting trend, don’t automatically assume causality, Shapiro cautions instead, look at it skeptically.