Evaluating the Visual Metaphors of Financial Concepts through Content Analysis

Abstract

Adding pictures to instructional materials that are relevant and representational supports meaningful learning. However, it is not always straightforward to generate such pictures, for example, for abstract concepts. It is much easier to make representational pictures of concrete concepts, “table” or “chair”, compared to abstract concepts, “loyalty” or “democracy”. The field of finance is full of abstract or complex financial concepts, such as pension, market value, and asset valuation—to name a few. How do we then make pictures of such financial concepts that can represent them? In this regard, visual metaphors could provide hints as to how complex financial concepts can be presented in the form of pictures. For this purpose, this study analyzed the representation of complex financial concepts in terms of visual metaphors. Visual metaphors of five financial concepts were selected from the financial learning content online. These included: (1) risk diversification, (2) inflation, (3) compound interest, (4) time value of money, and (5) financial risk. Using the content analysis approach, each of the visual metaphors were analyzed to determine how different features of the given financial concept were mapped onto the visual metaphor, making them representational. Results indicate that visual metaphors could be an effective and creative way to present complex financial concepts in the form of representational pictures.