IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/medema/v31y2011i3p444-457.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Graph Literacy

Author

Listed:
  • Mirta Galesic
  • Rocio Garcia-Retamero

Abstract

Background . Visual displays are often used to communicate important medical information to patients. However, even the simplest graphs are not understood by everyone. Objective . To develop and test a scale to measure health-related graph literacy and investigate the level of graph literacy in the United States and Germany. Design . Experimental and questionnaire studies. Setting . Computerized studies in the laboratory and on probabilistic national samples in the United States and Germany. Participants . Nationally representative samples of people 25 to 69 years of age in Germany ( n = 495) and the United States ( n = 492). Laboratory pretest on 60 younger and 60 older people. Measurements . Psychometric properties of the scale (i.e., reliability, validity, discriminability) and level of graph literacy in the two countries. Results . The new graph literacy scale predicted which patients can benefit from visual aids and had promising measurement properties. Participants in both countries completed approximately 9 of 13 items correctly (in Germany, x¯ = 9.4, s = 2.6; in the United States, x¯ = 9.3, s = 2.9). Approximately one third of the population in both countries had both low graph literacy and low numeracy skills. Limitations . The authors focused on basic graph literacy only. They used a computerized scale; comparability with paper-and-pencil versions should be checked. Conclusions . The new graph literacy scale seems to be a suitable tool for assessing whether patients understand common graphical formats and shows that not everyone profits from standard visual displays. Research is needed on communication formats that can overcome the barriers of both low numeracy and graph literacy.

Suggested Citation

  • Mirta Galesic & Rocio Garcia-Retamero, 2011. "Graph Literacy," Medical Decision Making, , vol. 31(3), pages 444-457, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:medema:v:31:y:2011:i:3:p:444-457
    DOI: 10.1177/0272989X10373805
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0272989X10373805
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0272989X10373805?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. William G. Jacoby, 2006. "Value Choices and American Public Opinion," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 50(3), pages 706-723, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jha, Anand & Boudreaux, Christopher J. & Banerjee, Vasabjit, 2018. "Political leanings and social capital," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 95-105.
    2. H. Whitt Kilburn, 2009. "Personal Values and Public Opinion," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 90(4), pages 868-885, December.
    3. Garcia-Retamero, Rocio & Galesic, Mirta, 2010. "Who proficts from visual aids: Overcoming challenges in people's understanding of risks," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(7), pages 1019-1025, April.
    4. R. Duane Ireland & Laszlo Tihanyi & Justin W. Webb, 2008. "A Tale of Two Politico-Economic Systems: Implications for Entrepreneurship in Central and Eastern Europe," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 32(1), pages 107-130, January.
    5. Niklas Harring & Sverker C. Jagers & Simon Matti, 2017. "Public Support for Pro-Environmental Policy Measures: Examining the Impact of Personal Values and Ideology," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-14, April.
    6. Jacob Sohlberg, 2016. "The Effect of Elite Polarization: A Comparative Perspective on How Party Elites Influence Attitudes and Behavior on Climate Change in the European Union," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-13, December.
    7. Francis X. Shen & Dena M. Gromet, 2015. "Red States, Blue States, and Brain States," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 658(1), pages 86-101, March.
    8. Gabor Toka & Marina Popescu, 2009. "Public Television, Private Television and Citizens' Political Knowledge," EUI-RSCAS Working Papers 66, European University Institute (EUI), Robert Schuman Centre of Advanced Studies (RSCAS).
    9. Oluwafemi Senu & Folarin Daranijoh, 2018. "African school of thought: The missing ideology in finding a solution to sub‐Saharan African insecurity," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 36(S2), pages 1004-1018, September.
    10. Branden B. Johnson & Brendon Swedlow, 2021. "Cultural Theory's Contributions to Risk Analysis: A Thematic Review with Directions and Resources for Further Research," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(3), pages 429-455, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:medema:v:31:y:2011:i:3:p:444-457. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.