Data Dashboard
Designed & Prototyped NAC
Data Dashboard platform
My Role
Data Analyst
Duration
August - December 2023
Team
JingYan Xu,
Anaan Choudhury,
Nicole Tresvalles, Molly Zelloe
@ Smith College
Skill
Data Wrangling
Data Cleaning
Project Management
R-Shiny Dashboard Building
Project description
In collaboration with the National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC), our team designed an interactive data dashboard that enables a user-friendly, data-driven exploration of the economic and demographic factors impacting caregivers.
This tool supports NAC’s mission by providing policymakers, journalists, and citizens with accessible insights into caregivers’ financial circumstances across different demographic groups, facilitating a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by diverse caregiving populations.
Background
Caregiving in the U.S. is a vital yet often undervalued role, with millions of individuals dedicating time and resources to support family members in need. However, the economic and social impacts on caregivers—especially those from marginalized groups—are frequently overlooked. The National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC) has collected extensive data on caregivers’ demographics and economic conditions, yet this information has been primarily shared through static reports and visuals, limiting users’ ability to explore and understand nuanced trends.
The Challenge
Our project was designed in six phases, each building on insights from the previous stage to enhance user engagement and data accessibility.
Process
Our project was designed in 5 phases, each building on insights from the previous stage to enhance user engagement and data accessibility.
Phase 1:
Understanding User Needs and Technical Requirements
To ensure we built a dashboard that served both technical and user-focused needs, we conducted preliminary user research with NAC staff and reviewed similar data tools.
After exploring potential tools, we chose R-Shiny due to its flexibility in creating interactive data visualizations. Recognizing the importance of usability, we learned the R-Shiny framework to optimize the dashboard’s layout, navigation, and visual clarity
Phase 2:
Data Preparation and Preliminary Exploration
With a focus on caregivers' economic and demographic dimensions, we processed the 2015 and 2020 NAC datasets, cleaning and filtering data to include only fully completed survey responses. Key variables such as gender, race, income, hours worked, and poverty level were selected to enable comparison across demographic groups.
This stage allowed us to identify important trends, like the consistent gender disparity among caregivers and the prevalence of caregivers in non-rural areas.
Phase 3:
Designing a User-Friendly Interface
To prioritize user experience, we created a prototype with interactive dropdown menus, allowing users to filter data by demographic and economic variables easily.
This feature was designed for users to visualize relationships like “income by gender” or “hours worked by urbanicity.” Our goal was to facilitate easy navigation for policymakers, researchers, and general users interested in specific trends.
Phase 4:
Visualization Development and Standardization
We experimented with various visualizations, ultimately selecting bar plots for their straightforward representation of categorical data. To ensure consistency, we standardized layouts and labeling across graphs. We focused on enhancing the dashboard’s readability, ensuring visuals were accessible to users with diverse data literacy levels.
Phase 5:
Finalization and Branding Alignment
In the final stage, we made design refinements based on user feedback. We optimized the dashboard’s layout to ensure users could intuitively explore key caregiving data insights without feeling overwhelmed, reinforcing NAC’s branding and mission through consistent design elements.
Solution and Key Insights
The resulting dashboard provides an interactive platform for users to explore how caregiving intersects with economic and demographic factors, supporting NAC’s mission to advocate effectively for diverse caregiving communities
Key Findings
Gender Disparities
Consistently more female than male caregivers were observed across income and employment categories, though gender parity was closer among high-income caregivers
Racial and Income Gaps
Caregivers identifying as white are overrepresented, especially in high-income categories, suggesting socioeconomic disparities in caregiving burdens.
Rural vs. Non-Rural Trends
Rural caregivers are proportionately fewer than non-rural caregivers, with urban caregivers often holding higher-income roles.
Results
This project successfully delivered a powerful, interactive data dashboard for the National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC), enhancing their ability to analyze and communicate caregiver demographics and economic impacts.
Data Accessibility and User Empowerment
Developed a R-Shiny dashboard that empowers users—including policymakers, journalists, and advocates—to explore critical caregiving trends with ease.
Enabled dynamic filtering of demographic and economic variables, allowing users to visualize custom data relationships that were previously hidden in static formats.
Revealing Insights on Caregiver Demographics
Identified key socioeconomic patterns, such as the predominance of female caregivers, income disparities among racial groups, and a significant rural-urban caregiving divide.
Highlighted that female caregivers are more prevalent across income and employment categories, with gender disparities closest in high-income groups, providing fresh perspectives for advocacy and policy discussions.
Enhanced Communication for NAC’s Advocacy Efforts
Designed accessible and visually engaging visualizations that help NAC communicate complex data trends in a way that resonates with diverse audiences.
Equipped NAC with a tool to more effectively showcase the financial burdens faced by caregivers, supporting the organization’s mission to advocate for improved resources and policies.
Projects Overview