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More recently, counterfactuals have begun to emerge as a technique being applied within visualization research. However, it remains unclear to what extent counterfactuals can aid with visual data communication. In this paper, we primarily focus on assessing the quality of users\u2019 understanding of data when provided with counterfactual visualizations. We propose a preliminary model of causality comprehension by connecting theories from causal inference and visual data communication. Leveraging this model, we conducted an empirical study to explore how counterfactuals can improve users\u2019 understanding of data in static visualizations. Our results indicate that visualizing counterfactuals had a positive impact on participants\u2019 interpretations of causal relations within datasets. These results motivate a discussion of how to more effectively incorporate counterfactuals into data visualizations.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/14738716241229437","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,7]],"date-time":"2024-02-07T04:14:48Z","timestamp":1707279288000},"page":"197-214","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":10,"title":["An empirical study of counterfactual visualization to support visual causal inference"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"23","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7491-7570","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Arran Zeyu","family":"Wang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0162-4080","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"David","family":"Borland","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"RENCI, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6424-7374","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"David","family":"Gotz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-14738716241229437","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/nmeth.1436"},{"key":"bibr2-14738716241229437","first-page":"1","volume-title":"ACM SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems","author":"Kong HK"},{"key":"bibr3-14738716241229437","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/TVCG.2019.2934538"},{"key":"bibr4-14738716241229437","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/TVCG.2015.2467931"},{"key":"bibr5-14738716241229437","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/VAST.2017.8585647"},{"key":"bibr6-14738716241229437","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1214\/09-SS057"},{"key":"bibr7-14738716241229437","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/CBO9780511803161"},{"key":"bibr8-14738716241229437","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/TVCG.2020.3030342"},{"key":"bibr9-14738716241229437","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/3377325.3377536"},{"key":"bibr10-14738716241229437","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/TVCG.2021.3114779"},{"key":"bibr11-14738716241229437","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/TVCG.2019.2934399"},{"key":"bibr12-14738716241229437","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/TVCG.2021.3114824"},{"key":"bibr13-14738716241229437","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/TVCG.2020.3030375"},{"key":"bibr14-14738716241229437","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/TVCG.2021.3068337"},{"issue":"1","key":"bibr15-14738716241229437","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1109\/TVCG.2022.3211636","volume":"29","author":"Lee-Robbins E","year":"2023","journal-title":"IEEE Trans Vis Comput Graph"},{"key":"bibr16-14738716241229437","volume":"180909328","author":"Bergstrom C","year":"2018","journal-title":"arXiv preprint arXiv"},{"key":"bibr17-14738716241229437","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/VL.1996.545307"},{"key":"bibr18-14738716241229437","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1214\/aoms\/1177704711"},{"key":"bibr19-14738716241229437","volume-title":"Exploratory data analysis","volume":"2","author":"Tukey JW","year":"1977"},{"key":"bibr20-14738716241229437","first-page":"79","volume-title":"IEEE visualization","author":"Van Wijk JJ","year":"2005"},{"key":"bibr21-14738716241229437","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1201\/b17511"},{"key":"bibr22-14738716241229437","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/01621459.1984.10478080"},{"key":"bibr23-14738716241229437","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/TVCG.2008.137"},{"key":"bibr24-14738716241229437","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/TVCG.2017.2744359"},{"key":"bibr25-14738716241229437","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/3544548.3581416"},{"key":"bibr26-14738716241229437","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/TVCG.2012.213"},{"key":"bibr27-14738716241229437","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/cgf.12632"},{"key":"bibr28-14738716241229437","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/INFVIS.2005.1532142"},{"key":"bibr29-14738716241229437","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/TVCG.2019.2934796"},{"key":"bibr30-14738716241229437","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/TVCG.2022.3209442"},{"key":"bibr31-14738716241229437","volume-title":"Taxonomy of educational objectives: the classification of educational goals. 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