Sam Quinan - Research

Binning Continuous Data

Are continuous color maps actually more beneficial than discrete ones? What is the relation to data and task?

See Paper

Understanding Hue Banding

Are rainbow color maps implicitly discretized and, if so, what does that discretization look like? Is the answer consistent across individuals?

See Paper

Area Estimation

Can we understand the heuristics people use and leverage that to establish guidelines for more effective area judgments?

Supporting Bayesian Reasoning

How do area estimation heuristics impact the cognitive load in existing bayesian reasoning visualizations? How might this compare to existing debiasing strategies, such as natural frequencies?

Can freeing up cognitive resources enable better judgments by the average lay-person? Does this help explain the apparent benefits of interactivity in bayesian reasoning problems?

Evaluation & Ecological Validity

How do we run empirical studies that more accurately reflect the complexities of the real-world decision making processes, especially those involving experts?

I spent some time digging into this subject, specifically in an attempt to assess the impact of different types of uncertainty visualizations on meteorological judgments. The expanded design based on our pilot results wound up requiring resources that were not feasible at the time. I still find the underlying problem fascinating, however, and would like to revisit it.

UI Complexity & Creativity

Over the summer of 2016, I had the opportunity to intern at Walt Disney Animation Studios looking at what level of visual complexity matters in artists' viewports and the extent to which that depends on their specific tasks. I'm looking to return to to this application area after graduation, pushing for the development of a body of empirical evidence for how specific UI design choices (visual complexity, interaction, etc.) impact artistic judgments and support creativity.