Seven Steps to Creating Better Data Stories

Rigorous data analysis is only one step toward inspiring innovative decisionmaking in policies and programs. Data stories—a series of data visualizations focused on answering a specific question—when undertaken as a collaborative process, can break down institutional silos, build participant expertise, and expand dissemination of the findings. This brief generalizes the lessons learned from DataSpark, a program at the University of Rhode Island, that has developed this collaborative process of producing data stories. The brief is a guide to the seven steps in the data-story process and includes highlights from two of DataSpark’s data stories.