Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Participants
The participants of the test were 52 students of the Department of Geography,
Masaryk University, with advanced cartographic knowledge. The participants were
randomly split into two groups (A—ring maps, B—small multiples). Both groups
were homogeneous with an average age of 23.5 in Group A and 23.7 in Group
B. The ratio of male/female was also similar (55 % males/45 % females). The
respondents were asked about additional qualitative parameters—frequency of
computer and map use, and vision defects. Only two participants declared a relevant
vision defect—reduced colour perception. All the respondents participated volun-
tarily and the experiment was carried out under identically monitored conditions.
Recordings
The results of the test contain personal information about the participants and also
qualitative information about task solving time (in seconds for each task) and task
completion correctness. We tried to evaluate the results considering differences
between cartographic visualization methods and also the distinctions between the
user groups, e.g. male/female.
Even a simple graphical comparison of the cartographic visualization methods
showed differences between ring maps and small multiples in task solving time. An
important fact is that participants performing on ring maps achieved a faster
response time in completing most of the tasks. This fact is more apparent in the
third and fourth sections of the test where the ratio was 9/1 (see Table
2
). The results
were due to the low number of the participants tested only by a nonparametric U
test, but no statistically significant differences were discovered on 5 % significance
Table 2 Average response time (s) for tasks (T) performed on ring map (RM) and small multiples
(SM)
Section 2
T1
T2
T3
T4
T5
T6
T7
T8
T9
T10
Time (s)
RM 46.8
23.5
22.7
45.1
39.6
36.5
50.7
30.8
20.3
16.6
Time (s)
SM 44.0
24.8
20.7
15.9
38.3
37.1
44.4
22.2
20.2
12.0
Section 3
T1
T2
T3
T4
T5
T6
T7
T8
T9
T10
Time (s)
RM
33.1
41.3
27.7
42.7
61.6
33.9
62.5
73.1
61.3
137.0
Time (s)
SM 31.5
33.0
30.6
43.3
35.1
39.7
49.1
88.0
69.1
122.2
Section 4
T1
T2
T3
T4
T5
T6
T7
T8
T9
T10
Time (s)
RM 66.0
39.9
153.8
52.2
27.0
60.2
63.1
111.5
38.2
54.9
Time (s)
SM 60.7
37.8
124.8
51.9
24.6
45.5
52.6
102.1
44.9
68.7
