Seeking Patterns of Visual Pattern Discovery for Knowledge Building

Currently, the methodological and technical developments in visual analytics, as well as the existing theories, are not sufficiently grounded by empirical studies that can provide an understanding of the processes of visual data analysis, analytical reasoning and derivation of new knowledge by humans. We conducted an exploratory empirical study in which participants analysed complex and data-rich visualisations by detecting salient visual patterns, translating them into conceptual information structures and reasoning about those structures to construct an overall understanding of the analysis subject. Eye tracking and voice recording were used to capture this process. We analysed how the data we had collected match several existing theoretical models intended to describe visualisation-supported reasoning, knowledge building, decision making or use and development of mental models. We found that none of these theoretical models alone is sufficient for describing the processes of visual analysis and knowledge generation that we observed in our experiments, whereas a combination of three particular models could be apposite. We also pondered whether empirical studies like ours can be used to derive implications and recommendations for possible ways to support users of visual analytics systems. Our approaches to designing and conducting the experiments and analysing the empirical data were appropriate to the goals of the study and can be recommended for use in other empirical studies in visual analytics.