User Perceptions of Actionability in Data Dashboards

This article reports on a multiphase study designed to understand how nonexpert users interact with COVID-19 data dashboards, particularly in terms of the dashboards’ actionability, or ability to support decision making. Analysis of the videos and transcriptions of user interviews shows the variable relevance of proposed criteria for dashboard actionability and suggests additional criteria for users’ emotional responses to data and for the presentation of data at degrees of personal and local granularity. These findings advance an understanding of how nonexpert audiences interact with and derive value from complex visualized data.