Making data click: Designing effective statistical dashboards for clinical and policy audiences

Statistical insights are only as valuable as their ability to reach the people who need them. This session brings together three perspectives on a common challenge: how do we design statistical dashboards effectively for non-statistical users? Speakers will present lessons learned from dashboard development in three contexts: a survey results dashboard built for a clinical audience, a monitoring tool developed within a data coordinating center for clinical trials, and an R Shiny application presenting child welfare assessment data to diverse stakeholders. These presentations will offer insight into balancing technical rigor with accessibility, handling complex data inputs, and empowering dashboard users to explore findings in a way that is useful to them. Across these three talks, dashboard audiences range from clinicians navigating the opioid crisis to child welfare policymakers to research teams managing multisite trials, highlighting how the principles of effective dashboard design apply across varied settings. Statisticians at any career stage, from students to experienced professionals, will find practical takeaways for communicating statistical results to non-statistical audiences using engaging dashboards.