REVISING A DISPLAY OF MULTIDIMENSIONAL LABORATORY MEASUREMENTS TO IMPROVE ACCURACY OF PERCEPTION

To display multidimensional laboratory measurements, Hoeke et al. (199 1) proposed a technique that uses plotting axes radiating from a point , assigns each test to a separate axis, and links the test results wit h line segments. A special nonlinear scaling ensures that a patient wh ose results all fall in the normal range is represented by a regular p olygon of middle size, and colored zones emphasize more serious depart ures from the normal range. Results of research in graphical perceptio n, however, point to potential difficulties in clinical applications. Those results also suggest a revision of the display that should overc ome the difficulties. The new version plots the test results on parall el horizontal lines and links the points for adjacent tests by line se gments, while retaining the special scaling and the colored bands.