Data Visualization and Dashboards: Orientation

Tables are essential in clinical research, but they are not always the best way to detect patterns. Visualization allows a study team to see distributions, trends, outliers, site differences, missingness patterns, and operational bottlenecks. A good graph can show that one site has delayed follow-up entry, that a laboratory value has an implausible cluster, that enrollment slowed after a protocol amendment, or that query resolution improved after retraining. Visualization is therefore not merely a presentation tool; it is a data management and monitoring tool.