Gender Differences in Temporal Data Analysis Toward Women or Men Empowerment?

摘要

The evidence shows that time-oriented data visualizations may greatly benefit from time spatialization (organization of time along axes) adaptation. Specifically, the choice of time arrangement along axes can significantly influence performance and satisfaction of such visualizations' users. However, due to gender differences in visuospatial abilities and approaches to solve spatial problems (how males and females navigate through real or imaginary space), males and females may respond differently to time spatialization adaptations. This in turn can generate demand for gender-specific interventions or system solutions. Approaching this important theoretical and practical issue, here, we report the results of the experiment that investigated the problem of gender differences in the productivity of interactions with time-oriented data visualizations. We found no sufficient evidence to confirm the existence of such differences. We yet recommend further research in this area to completely eliminate this possibility.