Communicating Data People Understand, with AJ Thurston, PhD

Have you ever sat through a presentation that felt completely correct, and somehow also completely forgettable? In this episode of the ScienceForWork podcast, host Matt Lampe, PsyD, talks with AJ Thurston, PhD, Chief of Market Research for military recruiting within the DoD Office of People Analytics and a professor of I/O psychology at George Mason University, about what it actually takes to communicate data so people understand it. AJ makes the case that being understood is almost entirely the communicator's responsibility, not the audience's, and that simple, honest communication is a skill worth deliberately building, no matter who you're talking to. In this conversation, AJ and Matt explore: Why the responsibility to be understood belongs to the communicator, not the audience How to structure a message so it sticks Why bar charts, not fancy dashboards, are often the most effective visual you can use How to talk about correlations and effect sizes in language a non-technical audience actually finds compelling Where AI fits as a genuine assistant in writing, coding, and data visualization, and why the underlying skill still matters More from AJ: Website: ajthurston.com Advanced resources (expectancy charts, predictive probabilities, dominance analysis): ajthurston.com/sfw LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ajthurston Twitter/X: @ajthurston Enjoying the ScienceForWork podcast? Follow the show, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend. ScienceForWork is an independent, non-profit foundation of evidence-based practitioners who want to #MakeWorkBetter. ScienceForWork.com