DVS State of the Industry Survey banner with title and artistic squiggles

2023

The purpose of this survey is to help the Data Visualization Society and the broader data visualization community understand the state of data visualization, the people who make it, the challenges they face, what can help practitioners, and where the field is headed.

The 2023 survey is now closed. read the full report as a DVS Member!

See this page for earlier versions of the survey, the data, and accompanying visualizations.

Who should take this survey?

Whether you are primarily focused on data visualization in your work or simply using it as one of many skills to accomplish your main goal, we want to hear from you! 

It doesn’t matter if you’re making data visualization with a tool, code, pen & paper, or other media, whether you do it once a year or every day. This survey welcomes input from DVS members and non-members alike.

How will we handle your data?

All answers are anonymous. This survey collects no directly identifying information: no email addresses, no names, etc.

Any potentially identifying information will be kept strictly confidential, accessible only by DVS team members who have agreed to specific non-disclosure and data privacy controls. An anonymized version of the dataset, in which potentially identifying information is removed or coarsened, will be released to the public on GitHub and via Google Sheets. See the results from 2020 (GitHub), results from 2021 and 2022 (Google Sheets), and Survey Hero’s Privacy Policy.

In compliance with the GDPR, you may contact programs@datavisualizationsociety.org with “Survey” in the subject line to have your data removed from the dataset.

By filling out this survey you agree that we will process your data in line with the privacy policy detailed above.

How long is this survey?

Questions are organized into eight main sections:

  • Roles and Experience

  • Pay and Location

  • Your Data Viz Work

  • Charts and Tools

  • Challenges and Changes

  • Looking Ahead

  • Time and Inspiration

  • Demographics

The entirety should take about 15–20 minutes to complete (depending on your role(s) and/or interest in data visualization). All questions are optional. 

Some questions ask you to put yourself or your perspectives into categories. We have such a diverse field that includes people representing many paths to and roles within data visualization. We aim to be inclusive and broad in our approach, but we may not perfectly capture your unique experience in every case. 

If the survey lists options that are close to your experience, we encourage you to choose those. Either way, feel free to fill out the “Other (please specify)” options throughout the survey. All write-ins that do not compromise privacy are shared in the published dataset.

How will I be helping others by taking this survey?

By taking this survey, you contribute to a multi-year dataset that helps practitioners

  1. Identify benchmarks for income decisions;

  2. Explore questions about tools usage, career paths, learning resources, and more

  3. Recommend ways to serve the international data visualization community better

How DVS engages results, including unpublished data:

Sample tools for Benchmarking Income:

Data Explorations:

2021 challenge participants’ process writeups

Other DVS initiatives:

2023 Survey Committee

Committee Chair: Jill A Brown is the current Programs Director for the Data Visualization Society. She is a motivated, meticulous, and dedicated research and evaluation scientist with a passion for data analysis and communication. Her primary goal is to develop and execute intuitive methodologies and communication techniques that inspire change in individuals and organizations.

Emily Borawski is a research scientist who is enthusiastic about making complex data and information accessible and engaging to all audiences by crafting compelling narratives and data visualizations. She believes that data has the potential to tell impactful stories that can bring about meaningful change.

Josephine Dru was drawn to this committee in 2021 by her interests in history, UX research, and survey design. Nowadays she also enjoys collaborating on various data projects with colleagues at Carnegie Mellon University and helping with data management for RacialEquityTools.org.

Carrie Harrison has a passion for data visualization and to help others understand the need to understand data visualization. Carrie has created corporate data visualization and storytelling classes and is the primary instructor in her organization. Outside of graphs and charts, Carrie enjoys playing Celtic music and hanging out with her family in the local Irish pub, The Black Spot, which is conveniently located in her living room.

Sheila B Robinson, Ed.D., of Custom Professional Learning, LLC is a speaker, educator, and consultant with a passion for the science of teaching and learning. She speaks and writes about program evaluation, survey design, presentation design, audience engagement, and data visualization.

Lisa Valade-DeMelo is currently an SVP at a market research firm making her clients smarter using the power of data vis! She has also been known to lose days to a decent sized pile of Lego.

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