Displaying data with icons or concise summaries led parents to choose schools with higher academic performance than graphs, numbers, or detailed displays¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causalr2·q3
Currency · newest study 2020 · checked against its sources 2026-10-08 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r
the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.
This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q3 i? Using icons instead of graphs or just numbers, and presenting concise summaries instead of detailed displays, led parents to choose schools with higher academic performance. → Steven Glazerman 2020
Evidence¶
Steven Glazerman 2020¶
Steven Glazerman, Ira Nichols-Barrer, Jon Valant, Jesse Chandler, Alyson Burnett. (2020). The Choice Architecture of School Choice Websites. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, vol. 13, issue 2. https://www.mathematica.org/publications/the-choice-architecture-of-school-choice-websites
q3 · i? · causal · r2
In the same randomized factorial experiment, the article reports that icon-based displays and concise summaries "led parents to choose schools with higher academic performance" relative to graphs or numbers and detailed displays. No effect size is printed.
"Other design choices such as using icons to represent data, instead of graphs or just numbers, or presenting concise summaries instead of detailed displays, also led parents to choose schools with higher academic performance."
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- Changing the default order in which schools are presented induces meaningful changes in the types of schools low-income parents choose — related
- Display design affected parents' understanding of school information and their self-reported satisfaction and ease of use — a broader claim this one bears on
- Number-only displays maximized parents' understanding while graphs maximized satisfaction at the expense of understanding — related
- Setting the default sort order to academic performance instead of distance from home induces parents to choose academically higher performing schools — related
- Five school-information design factors each showed impacts on parents' knowledge, attitudes, or choice behavior — a broader claim this one bears on
- How school information is presented can affect how parents rank their school choices — a broader claim this one bears on
- Growth matters more than achievement or status when parents choose between schools — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
icons-concise-summaries-higher-performing-schools |
title |
Displaying data with icons or concise summaries led parents to choose schools with higher academic performance than graphs, numbers, or detailed displays |
description |
Displaying data with icons or concise summaries led parents to choose schools with higher academic performance than graphs, numbers, or detailed displays |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
moderate |
newest_evidence |
2020 |
source_checked |
2026-10-08 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-08 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — steven-glazerman-2020 |
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