A web-based, interactive visualization tool for social environmental survey data

Understanding human motivations and actions related to environmental problems is central to modeling complex, human-natural systems. However, social science survey data on environmental issues are often presented in relatively static reports and figures and are not easily accessible for participatory deliberation. Federal data sharing mandates motivate innovative data visualization and sharing mechanisms. We developed an open-source, web-based Survey Data Viewer as a visual interface to explore quantitative social science survey data. We used the Python Django web framework and the D3.js visualization library to create and deploy the tool. The Viewer was implemented using a water-related survey administered to a large, random sample of Utah adults in public venues. The Viewer allows users to visualize question responses based on demographic variables with percentages and mean response levels. We developed a standardized template for encoding survey data and metadata that permits the generalization of the tool to other similar surveys. We developed a Survey Data Viewer for web-based visualization of social survey data.The Viewer can be implemented for any quantitative survey data.The code is open-source for adoption and further development.The Viewer was used for a survey of water-related questions administered to 6000 adults.The tool is useful for understanding human dimensions of environmental issues.

[1]  I. Rodríguez‐Iturbe,et al.  Socio‐hydrology: Use‐inspired water sustainability science for the Anthropocene , 2014 .

[2]  David G. Tarboton,et al.  The Initial Design of Data Sharing Infrastructure for the Critical Zone Observatory , 2011 .

[3]  James Moody,et al.  Data Visualization in Sociology. , 2014, Annual review of sociology.

[4]  J. M. Grove,et al.  Integrating Social Science into the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network: Social Dimensions of Ecological Change and Ecological Dimensions of Social Change , 2004, Ecosystems.

[5]  Douglas Jackson-Smith,et al.  Water-based Recreation and Water Quality Perception and Concern Among Utahns , 2016 .

[6]  Salvatore Arico,et al.  Integrating the social sciences into ecohydrology: facilitating an interdisciplinary approach to solve issues surrounding water, environment and people , 2007 .

[7]  Barbara J. Morehouse,et al.  Integrating values and risk perceptions into a decision support system , 2010 .

[8]  Jeffery S. Horsburgh,et al.  Components of an environmental observatory information system , 2011, Comput. Geosci..

[9]  Chava Nachmias,et al.  Social statistics for a diverse society , 2009 .

[10]  Peter A. Troch,et al.  The future of hydrology: An evolving science for a changing world , 2010 .

[11]  P. Shah,et al.  Review of Graph Comprehension Research: Implications for Instruction , 2002 .

[12]  John B. Braden,et al.  Humans and the Water Environment: The Need for Coordinated Data Collection , 2013 .

[13]  Jeremy Freese,et al.  Replication Standards for Quantitative Social Science , 2007 .

[14]  David E. Rosenberg,et al.  iSAW: Integrating Structure, Actors, and Water to study socio‐hydro‐ecological systems , 2015 .

[15]  Allan Curtis,et al.  INTEGRATING SOCIO‐ECONOMIC AND BIOPHYSICAL DATA TO UNDERPIN COLLABORATIVE WATERSHED MANAGEMENT 1 , 2005 .

[16]  Meghan Cope,et al.  Grounded Visualization: Integrating the Analysis of Qualitative and Quantitative Data through Grounded Theory and Visualization , 2006 .

[17]  Louise Corti,et al.  Recent developments in archiving social research , 2012 .

[18]  Peter M. Groffman,et al.  Watersheds in Baltimore, Maryland: Understanding and Application of Integrated Ecological and Social Processes , 2009 .

[19]  Elizabeth C. Hamilton.  The impact of survey data: Measuring success , 2007 .

[20]  Jeffery S. Horsburgh,et al.  An integrated system for publishing environmental observations data , 2009, Environ. Model. Softw..

[21]  Jeffrey Heer,et al.  A tour through the visualization zoo , 2010, Commun. ACM.

[22]  Laurence J. O'Toole,et al.  Participation and the Quality of Environmental Decision Making , 2012 .

[23]  Jeffrey Heer,et al.  A Tour through the Visualization Zoo , 2010 .

[24]  Jonathan A. Schwabish.  An Economist's Guide to Visualizing Data , 2014 .

[25]  Sean Gillies,et al.  The GeoJSON Format , 2016, RFC.

[26]  Patrick J. Bartlein,et al.  The end of the rainbow? Color schemes for improved data graphics , 2004 .

[27]  Chandler Stolp,et al.  The Visual Display of Quantitative Information , 1983 .

[28]  Nancy L. Barber,et al.  Estimated use of water in the United States in 2010 , 2014 .

[29]  C. Tenopir,et al.  Data Sharing by Scientists: Practices and Perceptions , 2011, PloS one.

[30]  Gary Higgs,et al.  The WISERD Geoportal: A Tool for the Discovery, Analysis and Visualization of Socio‐economic (Meta‐) Data for Wales , 2012, Trans. GIS.

[31]  Nancy L. Barber,et al.  Estimated use of water in the United States in 2005 , 2009 .

[32]  Floyd J. Fowler,et al.  Survey Research Methods , 1984 .

[33]  Jeffery S. Horsburgh,et al.  A data management and publication workflow for a large-scale, heterogeneous sensor network , 2015, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment.

[34]  Edward R. Tufte,et al.  The Visual Display of Quantitative Information , 1986 .

[35]  Jennifer S. Evans-Cowley,et al.  E-Participation in Planning: An Analysis of Cities Adopting On-Line Citizen Participation Tools , 2006 .

[36]  David Borland,et al.  Rainbow Color Map (Still) Considered Harmful , 2007 .

[37]  M. B. Beck,et al.  Elucidating public perceptions of environmental behavior: a case study of Lake Lanier , 2005, Environ. Model. Softw..

[38]  Simon Musgrave,et al.  The Social Science Dream Machine , 2001 .

[39]  Patricia Gober,et al.  Social science in a water observing system , 2009 .