Yes, our partners from Cyprus (Cyprus University of Technology and Interfusion) are building a Fuzzy Coginitive Maps interface for this purpose

Certainly there are a lot of approaches to improve interaction for lay users! But I think, before we can give you an answer, it would be helpful to learn more about your application first. E.g.: What kind of data will the lay user/citizen interact with (textual data, numbers, tables, charts, geographical maps, ...)? Which interactions (operations on the data) have to be provided? Which hardware will be used (standard PC, smartphone/tablet computer, ...)? Are there special input devices available (speech-input, VR/AR devices, touchscreens, ...)? ... - I'm looking forward to learn more about your application scenario(s)!

You can make use of data visualization tools such as R, WEKA etc

gincker.com has many templates that allow users to visualize and interact with data without the need of write a single line code. You simply type in your formula or pasting your data, Gincker will generate the charts or graphics automatically.

Here are some examples:

2D lines: https://gincker.com/multiple-line-chart

contour/heatmap: https://gincker.com/contour-chart

3D parametric surface: https://gincker.com/3d-parametric-chart

3D simple surface: https://gincker.com/3d-simple-chart

fractal charts: https://gincker.com/fractal

vector charts: https://gincker.com/vector-chart-from-potential

and much much more. just click the above links to see the live charts.