Flowers Revisited: A Preliminary Replication of Flowers et al. 1997

TL;DR

This paper replicates a 1997 study on cross-modal data perception, adding audiovisual conditions, and discusses the importance of replication in scientific research.

Contribution

It provides a preliminary replication of Flowers et al.'s study with added audiovisual scatterplots, highlighting the role of replication in validating findings.

Findings

Replicated original results with visual and auditory scatterplots

Extended experiment to include audiovisual scatterplots

Initial findings support original conclusions

Abstract

In 1997, Flowers, Buhman, and Turnage published a paper titled ``Cross-Modal Equivalence of Visual and Auditory Scatterplots for Exploring Bivariate Data Samples.'' This paper examined our capacity to assess the relationship between two data variables when presented through visual or auditory scatterplots. Twenty-seven years later, we have replicated the first part of this influential study and present the preliminary findings of our replication, initially involving 21 participants. In addition to purely auditory and visual scatterplots, we introduced audiovisual scatterplots as a third condition in our experiment. Our initial findings mirror those of Flowers et al.'s original research. With this extended abstract, we also aim to spark a discussion about the significance of replication studies for our research community in general.