Exploring the Complexities of Data Visualisation Developers’ Working Practices - A Constructivist Grounded Theory Approach

Data visualisation development is inherently complex, involving uncertainty at various stages of the process leading to construction and use of the visualisations. Often, the literature provides empirical discussion on data visualisation processes and methods, and less so on the work context and social environment. This research study aims to explore the social and human aspects of data visualisation developers’ work practices using the Constructivist Grounded Theory Methodology (CGTM). Four distinct, yet interrelated studies were conducted involving a research institute, a public services body, a charity-owned project and a university and achieve theoretical saturation. Data was collected from interviews and observations of 22 data visualisation developers, data visualisations and a founder’s Ask Me Anything (AMA) post. My thesis explored how and why developers construct data visualisations for their users and demonstrated the application of CGTM to data visualisation development. In doing so (a) I present comprehensive phases of CGTM applied throughout my research; (b) I discuss the challenges of investigating the sociocultural context of data visualisation use, which resulted in composing a novel visual data analysis framework; (c) I demonstrate how data triangulation can be conducted, combining the framework with more conventional GTM methods; and (d) I present my data that has earned its relevance in the studies, the systematic generation of results and the explication of a substantive theory. The overall study revealed critical multifaceted, yet interdependent organisational and cognitive constraints faced by the developers and how they manage the constraints, with a social purpose of developing data visualisations for their intended users. The constraints influence how and why developers render their intentions in the data visualisations they produce, indicating the primacy of constraints in advancing their analytical expertise. My research contributions are the novel visual data analysis framework and approach to developing a substantive theory triangulated from and grounded in a combination of empirical data. The resultant theory is specific to a particular area due to the unique combination of studies relating to human activity of data visualisation development and use. Effective data visualisations connect the developer with their users, bringing about transformative change to the organisation and generating impact for research.