Rural producers and data graph preferences for communication and technical information
Abstract
Understanding data graphs, both when performing scientific work and sharing scientific data, is a topic that is receiving increased attention around the world. This is particularly the case when it comes to rural producers, since agencies and other institutions must explain improvements and technical contributions in a simple, digestible manner. For this paper, we surveyed 80 rural producers in the south-central region of the Province of Entre Ríos in Argentina, investigating their preferences for certain types of data graphs. We asked for their position on bar graphs (either horizontal or vertical) as opposed to line graphs (combined in the same graph or as separate graphs). We found that respondents significantly preferred bar graphs (76.25%, p=0.001) and, among those, also preferred vertical bar graphs over horizontal (78.75%, p=0.000). There was no preference for line graphs in a single graph or separated across four graphs. Dividing respondents by age group, academic level, and years of rural activity yielded only slight variations next to the global percentages. In conclusion, these results reveal the importance of designing simpler data graphs when sharing information with rural producers.
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