Narrative Scaffolding: A Narrative-First Framework for Data-Driven Sensemaking

When exploring data, analysts construct narratives about what the data means by asking questions, generating visualizations, reflecting on patterns, and revising their interpretations as new insights emerge. Yet existing analysis tools treat narrative as an afterthought, breaking the link between reasoning, reflection, and the evolving story from exploration. Consequently, analysts lose the ability to see how their reasoning evolves, making it harder to reflect systematically or build coherent explanations. To address this gap, we propose Narrative Scaffolding (NS), a framework for narrative-driven exploration that positions narrative construction as the primary interface for exploration and reasoning. We implemented this framework in a system that externalizes iterative reasoning through narrative-first entry, semantically aligned view generation, and reflection support via insight provenance and inquiry tracking. In a within-subject study (N = 20), we demonstrated that narrative scaffolding facilitates broader exploration, deeper reflection, and more defensible narratives. An evaluation with visualization literacy experts (N = 6) confirmed that the system produced outputs aligned with narrative intent and facilitated intentional exploration.