There are two interactive ways to view key aspects of the reported activities - bubbles and the map.
The bubbles allow you to compare pairs of key categories selected from the national survey about science engagement activities. The instructions below are for using the bubbles.
The map provides a range of search filters for you to locate where types of activities are managed and sometimes delivered. See the map page for instructions on how to use the map.
A quick guide to using the bubbles:
- When the page first appears you’ll see four blue disks, called outer bubbles. These represent the four possible answers to the Outcome category from the top row of search categories.
- Move your cursor over a bubble to get a text pop-up about what the bubble represents.
- The sizes of these bubbles relate to the frequency of the possible answers within a category.
- Click on different categories in the top row to see other sets of outer bubbles. The number of bubbles ranges from four to 28.
- Click on a category in the bottom row and coloured inner bubbles appear. This provides a visual comparison of the frequency of answers for different pairs of categories.
- Each of the inner bubbles also has a text pop-up. For some categories a colourless inner bubble within a black circle appears. This bubble lists less frequent responses.
- The total of the percentages for a set of bubbles well exceeds 100%. This is because each category can have multiple answers.
- See the legend at the bottom of the screen to match the colour and answer for each inner bubble.
- If the inner bubbles start to move erratically, refresh the page and start again.
More about the bubbles:
Comparing categories: The categories are in three broad groupings; those that relate to an attribute of the Activity, those which characterise the type of Engagement, and those about the Evaluation of the activity.
Multiple choices: Some categories, such as Outcome, represent survey questions with only a few possible choices of answer. Others, such as Tools, represent questions with up to 28 choices of answer. A science engagement activity could have multiple answers for each category.
Two rows: The two rows at the top of the page contain the same key categories. A category selected from the top row defines the outer bubbles. Picking a category from the lower row produces the coloured inner bubbles. If you want to swap the categories of the outer and inner bubbles you need to click on a different category from either row, and then reselect the categories you want to compare.
Outer and inner bubbles: Selecting different pairs of categories from the two rows allows you to quickly look for patterns in the data set.
Less frequent response bubbles: when there are more than ten possible inner bubbles, nine coloured bubbles and one colourless bubble surrounded by a black circle are shown. Move the cursor over the colourless bubble to bring up a listing of less frequent responses in a category.
Legend: when comparing categories a legend appears at the bottom of the screen showing the colours and answers of each inner bubble.
Rankings and preferences: Some survey questions asked the respondent to rank suggested options in various ways.
- Outcome ("Please rank the outcomes your activity seeks"):
o The frequency of the four options in the Outcome category depends on how often an option was entered as of high importance. Respondents could rate more than one Outcome option as high importance.
- Focus ("What does your activity focus on?"):
o The frequency of the five options in the Focus category depends on how many activities entered that answer as being a major component of activity. Respondents could rate more than one focus option as a major component.
- Fields ("Which major fields of science are involved in the activity?"):
o There are twelve options for the major fields of science involved in the activity. Respondents could select multiple options.
- Audience ("From the groups below who you may be targeting with this activity, please estimate the number of people who are (or are expected to be) involved."):
o There are eleven options for the type of audience targeted for an activity. Respondents could select multiple options. The bubbles represent how often a group was mentioned but do not capture the numbers of people involved in each group.
- Organisations ("Who is involved in the activity? If you can, please let us know the specific names of the organisations/departments within the groups below which are relevant to you."):
o There are eleven options for the type of organisation relevant to an activity. Respondents could select multiple options.
- Tools ("What tools have you used to engage?"):
o There are 28 options for the type of tools used to engage an audience for an activity. Respondents could select multiple options.
- Timing ("When in the science process is the engagement activity happening?"):
o There are six options for this category. Respondents could select multiple options.
- Delivery ("Who is involved in delivering the engagement activity?"):
o The frequency of the eight options in the Delivery category depends on how many options were selected as of high/medium involvement. Respondents could rate more than one Delivery option as high/medium involvement.
- Kinds ("What kind of evaluation have you done or do you plan to do?"):
o There are four options for this category. Respondents could select multiple options.
- Method ("How are you evaluating/have evaluated/plan to evaluate the activity?"):
o There are seven options for this category. Respondents could select multiple options.
Other (free text options in many survey questions) - The bubbles do not have data for other options or additional information entered as free text. These responses are too varied and individualised to be represented or ranked.
Resetting the page: To reset the bubble visualisations, refresh the webpage or go to the map view and then return to the bubble page. This will bring up the outer bubbles of the Outcome category.
