An Approach to Investigating Visualisation Tools to Make Statistics More Accessible: Focus on small and medium sized businesses

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1 An Approach to Investigating Visualisation Tools to Make Statistics More Accessible: Focus on small and medium sized businesses Paper presented at the Seminar on Innovative Approaches to Turning Statistics into Knowledge, at Stockholm, Sweden, May 2008 Patrick Ng Deputy Government Statistician, Collections and Dissemination, Statistics New Zealand Vina Cullum Manager, Product Development and Publishing, Statistics New Zealand Lauren Wood Product Development Manager, Product Development and Publishing, Statistics New Zealand P O Box 2922 Wellington, New Zealand info@stats.govt.nz

2 Liability statement: Statistics New Zealand gives no warranty that the information or data supplied in this paper is error free. All care and diligence has been used, however, in processing, analysing and extracting information. Statistics New Zealand will not be liable for any loss or damage suffered by customers consequent upon the use directly, or indirectly, of the information in this paper. Reproduction of material: Any table or other material published in this paper may be reproduced and published without further licence, provided that it does not purport to be published under government authority and that acknowledgement is made of this source. Abstract Users of official statistics who have received attention in New Zealand recently are the business community. New Zealand's business landscape is somewhat varied, with large, sophisticated users, with their own senior analysts at one end of the spectrum, and small businesses, with less than 20 staff and who are rather unsophisticated at the other end of the spectrum. A large proportion of New Zealand's businesses fall into the latter category. Recent government sponsored initiatives will mean that all businesses can access considerably more statistical information for free this year. Statistics New Zealand has recently won accolades for its contribution to New Zealand's small business community. This paper discusses how innovative modes of presentation, such as visualisation, could act as a powerful tool, allowing unsophisticated small business users to easily understand and apply the information that will soon be made available to them for free. The paper outlines an approach for identifying the tools available and testing them with small business users. Examining small and medium sized businesses in New Zealand New Zealand s Ministry of Economic Development defines a small and medium sized enterprise (SME) as one that employs fewer than 20 employees. SMEs represent a significant component of our business landscape, making up 97 percent of the 463,000 businesses in New Zealand. They are also a large contributor to our economy 31 percent of all employed New Zealanders are with SMEs, which generate approximately 29 percent of the $492,152 million total income of all businesses in New Zealand. Table 1 summarises the relative significance of small and medium sized businesses (less than 20 employees) and larger businesses (more than 20 employees) in New Zealand: Table 1 Percentage of enterprises, employees and total income by employment size groups Employment size group Businesses with less than 20 employees Businesses with employees Businesses with 100 or more employees Percentage of enterprises Percentage of employees Percentage of total income NA NA Source: New Zealand Business Demography Statistics (February 2007). 2

3 Table 2 highlights the legal compositions of businesses in New Zealand. Table 2 Percentage of enterprises by business type Business type Percentage Limited liability companies 47 Individual proprietorship 20 Partnerships 18 Trusts / estates 9 Incorporated / unincorporated societies 3 Central / local government (including trading 1 enterprises) Other 2 Source: New Zealand Business Demography Statistics (February 2006). Why focus on small and medium businesses? Small and medium businesses are a meaningful part of business activity in New Zealand. However, success stories of these businesses using our statistical information are limited. Data that is most commonly requested includes: census data to build demographic profiles for target markets Household and Economic Survey data to gauge household spending on certain commodities trade data for imports and exports including market penetration economic indicators Consumer Price Index and wage indexes, to monitor price and wage changes over time. Indications are that larger and more sophisticated businesses request this data, with less up-take from smaller, less sophisticated business users. Given the relative importance of SMEs to the New Zealand economy, and the lack of focus that this user community has previously received, we are keen to investigate the application of visualisation tools and practices which will allow these users to access meaningful data, easily. Recent initiatives The importance of official statistics to the business community has been recognised by Government and was championed by the previous Minister of Statistics. In May 2007, new funding was allocated to Statistics New Zealand so that over the next four years around 250 million pieces of statistical information could be made available to users for free. Previously this information would have been charged for on a cost recovery basis. 3

4 Information to be made free of charge which is of interest to the business community includes: small area census data plus annual population estimates and projections at the local level detailed information on the number, type and size of businesses at the local level household expenditure information for a large range of products and services detailed imports and exports data showing the quantity and value as well as the country of origin or destination information from an extensive time series database of economic, business and social data with the ability to display information in tabular and graphical form digital boundaries for use in mapping systems to display information for statistical and administrative areas street address ranges with links to statistical and administrative areas and a tool that matches addresses to areas. This free information may be used for a wide range of activities such as estimating market size, planning new outlets and distribution, applying for finance, developing marketing strategies and assessing competitiveness. Additional funding has also contributed to a number of projects that will create an environment where SMEs can easily access statistical information. Two such projects are the Business Toolbox and the Data Visualisation Research project. Business Toolbox The Business Toolbox is an application that at this stage has three proposed outputs: Small Business Landing Page A web-based information resource designed to show SME owners and operators what relevant information Statistics New Zealand has available for them online and provide links to this information. Industry Profiler Accessible from the Small Business Landing page, the Industry Profiler is an interactive tool that will allow our SME users to quickly access simple statistical information about similar businesses in their industry, financial benchmarks, and business demographics relating to a particular industry. Associated with this will be some industry search functionality, which allows users to find information relating to their industry without needing to understand our classification system. Market Analyser Accessible from the Small Business Landing Page, the Market Analyser is a graphical and interactive tool that will allow small and medium business users to quickly get statistical information about their potential customers. Users will be able to select a number of population characteristics, such as age, income, and how much people spend on particular items, and the Market Analyser will give them a breakdown by these characteristics. The statistical information represented may be displayed using a 4

5 geospatial mapping tool or in tabular form to enable the user to visualise and gain a better understanding of how the information may help with decision making. Data visualisation research This is a research project which looks at the possible uses of visualisation for the communication and analysis of official statistics. It will review examples of the current uses of the various visualisation techniques and the leading opinion of future trends in this area. Due to the wide range of visualisation tools available, a programme to pilot visualisation tools will be undertaken and tested with potential users. Proposals/options for future research and/or implementation work will be made, including: The potential benefits and costs of visualisation options (particularly benefits related back to the goal of creating opportunities for more people to use official statistics). The extent to which such activities align with Statistics New Zealand's priorities for the development of products and analytical tools and methods. Visualisation tools are often implemented in an unplanned manner, with different departments introducing new tools as they identify or develop them. Statistics New Zealand plans to take a structured approach to the implementation of visualisation tools, based on a careful analysis of our users needs and the identification of tools that will allow us to achieve our wider strategic objectives of making information easily accessed and understood by target audiences, such as small and medium business users. Identifying the user needs When assessing the value of implementing data visualisation tools, it is important to start by having a clear user need. An assessment of our audience model identified those in the overlap between the public and professional audiences as the users with the most to gain from visualisation tools. 5

6 Figure 1 Statistics New Zealand audience model Amount and complexity of data Technical Professional Public Size of audience Source: Statistics New Zealand Within the professional audience, there are users who lack developed numeracy skills or the time to use raw datasets. For these users, the issue may not be comprehension, but rather the time and inclination to get the simple conclusions and outputs they need for their business. For this group, web searches are the staple source of information and those websites and online tools which appeal, by being simple and customisable, will draw users in. Often these users don t know what they don t know when it comes to statistical data but they know they don t want metadata. A visualisation tool could provide these users with quick, easily understood outputs that they can use and communicate to others. Customisable graphs, coloured maps and simple diagrams could all appeal to these users. Small and medium enterprises are a good example of a user community within this group of users. The skills of SME owners are typically related to the industry they are in. Their core business is the focus of their work, while planning and management functions are learnt as and when needed to facilitate growth. Sites such as recognise the lack of business skills possessed by SME owners and provide resources to close this gap. Our data has the capacity to proactively support these users but it needs to be quick, simple and easy to understand. User research shows that it must be accessible and targeted, not requiring training or practise. Edward Tufte, well known for his work in visualisation, says Graphical excellence is that which gives the viewer the greatest number of ideas in the shortest time with the least ink in the smallest space (Tufte, 1984). This is exactly what is needed for a small business owner, with limited time and experience, to make decisions. Articulating the user need As part of the Business Toolbox development, a series of ethnographic interviews with small businesses were conducted and captured as personas. Through this research, we have gained an in-depth understanding of these users general needs, as well as their needs for visualisation tools. 6

7 SMEs require targeted information about both their market and the industry in which they work. They need demographic and regional information to know who and where their customers are. They also require information about employment in their industry, and the locations of competitors and relevant services. Often a high level of detail specific to the particular industry they are in is needed. SMEs need to be able to access relevant information quickly and efficiently. Information must be presented upfront, with the option to drill down to more detailed data. Interfaces need to be intuitive for ease of navigation, and the download time needs to be low. The ability to compare geographic information is also a necessity, provided it is easy for them to move between displays. Selection of tools for piloting In selecting visualisation tools to pilot, it is important to start with an initial set of criteria with which to evaluate potential tools against. This set of criteria needs to be based around the primary functionality needed by our intended audience. We will use these criteria to narrow the field and shortlist potential programmes that will meet our needs. As we research each software package, we will consider both the audience and the organisation s needs. In terms of user requirements, we will consider the following general principles: Does the package require users to download any software to view the output? Is the interface intuitive, or do users have to read instructions to use the tool effectively? Can users customise their search to access only relevant information? Are there a range of options for how to visualise data? (eg tables, a number of standard graphs, maps, customisable colours.) Overall, would this package address the dissemination needs of our users? In terms of Statistics New Zealand s infrastructural requirements, we will consider: Is the software compatible with our organisation s current IT environment? Is uploading data to the software a simple process? Is this a cost-effective solution? Does it meet New Zealand s e-government guidelines? Assessing the tools Once we have selected the tools to pilot, we will develop a more detailed set of criteria for what our users would want to achieve through visualisation. The first stage is to develop user scenarios these help us to think about how SMEs would want to interact with the tool and therefore what tasks they may want to perform. Our user scenarios will be based on the personas developed for the Business Toolbox. This helps to ensure that we develop a set of tasks that are representative of the range of skill levels of SMEs in New Zealand. 7

8 The set of tasks will cover how an SME will navigate through the tool, select or change variables and how they expect the final presentation of information will appear (eg in tabular, graphical or map format). These tasks will be categorised into must have, should have and nice to have functionalities so that when we come to evaluate the tools, we will have a robust means for assessing which tool will best meet user needs. Our own assessment of the tools needs to be validated by a small group of SMEs. When selecting SMEs to test the tools, we need to ensure that we have a group of people who represent the range of needs uncovered during our research stage. Throughout the testing session, we will observe how the user completes each task set and the degree to which they find it easy to complete. This gives us a good opportunity to further refine our understanding of what functionality is needed. For example, we may have ascertained from our user research that a range of search options (such as location map, subject search, drop-down menus) are desired by users, but when we test these range of search options we may find that only one or two were used in practise. Together with the practical element of testing, users will also be asked for their general impression of the tools (eg how they found the tool to use and its aesthetics). User testing is completed when we feel that we have covered the range of users and when we feel we ve identified any major functional issues with the tools. This puts us in a position to clearly define the functionality required by our users for visualisation tools. Conclusion Small and medium sized businesses represent a significant proportion of the total business landscape in New Zealand but are less likely to access statistical information. The New Zealand Government has invested in making more statistical information freely available to small and medium sized businesses. A key area of focus for Statistics New Zealand is how we can appeal and present information to this audience in a manner that makes our data meaningful and useful for business decision making. We have invested in the evaluation and development of tools and software applications that will provide meaningful information to small and medium sized businesses. Part of our broader objectives is to consider the value of visualisation tools and how these tools can be used to present information to small and medium sized businesses. We intend to take a systematic approach to the identification, testing, confirmation and implementation of visualisation tools in our organisation, in order to ensure we select and implement tools that are both meaningful and relevant to these users. References Tufte, E. R. (1984). The visual display of quantitative information, Graphic Press, Cheshire, Connecticut, 51. 8