Dual-Axis Charts: Better Alternatives

Alternatives to Dual-Axis Charts In a previous blog post called 'Dual-Axis Charts: Temptations, Traps, Tips', I went through some of the pitfalls of using dual-axis charts. These are charts where you want to compare two metrics or data attributes but there are vastly different scales involved, so you reach for a layout with two y-axes…

Dual-Axis Charts: Temptations, Traps, Tips

The Temptation of Dual-Axis Charts Sometimes when we are trying to show relationships over time between two dimensions of the same metric, or two separate metrics, we run into a situation where differences in the scales involved make it difficult/impossible to really tell what is going on using a standard line chart. One solution we…

Don’t Underestimate Durability along with Scalability in Analytics Practice

One of the things our team has been working on over the past few years is improving the durability of our work. People often talk about the importance of scalability, and rightly so: scale of data and customer reach is the most obvious source of both opportunity and impact. While the benefits of scalability are…

Data Doesn’t Tell Stories: You Do…Respect the Data When You Do

(full disclosure: this article has affiliate links to books that I admire and highly recommend) We all know that data is only tool, a resource, a means to an end, not an end in itself. It’s critical that, as analysts, we are able to not just assemble the data but also interpret responsibly it for…

Google Trends + R: Leverage gtrendsR Package for More Powerful Search Trend Analytics

Google Trends is a popular tool for all manner of curiousity related to trends in search activity on the Google search engine: what topics are trending? what are trends for a given search term? how does this compare to other terms? what related terms are people using? how does interest vary by region? And lots…