MISLEADING GRAPHS Category 1 Categor y 2 Category 3 Category 4 0 1 2 3 4 5 Series 1 Series 3 Series 1 Series 2 Series 3
MISLEADING GRAPHS
Feb 24, 2016
MISLEADING GRAPHS. WHAT IS MISLEADING ABOUT THIS GRAPH?. ANSWER : VERTICAL AXIS DOESN’T BEGIN AT 0 SO LOOKS AS THOUGH HOUSING PRICES HAVE TRIPLED . This graph makes a truer comparison. WHAT IS MISLEADING ABOUT THIS GRAPH?. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Welcome message from author
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
MISLEADING GRAPHS
Catego
ry 1
Catego
ry 2
Catego
ry 3
Catego
ry 4
0
1
2
3
4
5
Series 1Series 2
Series 3
Series 1Series 2Series 3
WHAT IS MISLEADING ABOUT THIS GRAPH?
ANSWER: VERTICAL AXIS DOESN’T BEGIN AT 0 SO LOOKS AS THOUGH HOUSING PRICES HAVE TRIPLED. This graph makes a truer comparison.
WHAT IS MISLEADING ABOUT THIS GRAPH?
ANSWER: INTERVALS ON VERTICAL AXIS NOT EVEN . ALSO NO LABLES SO NOT SURE WHAT GRAPH IS TALKING ABOUT.
WHAT IS MISLEADING ABOUT THIS GRAPH?
This 3D bar chart might look very attractive, but it is also very misleading. There is no scale on the vertical axis and, because of the perspective, it looks as though sales for 1995 were far
greater than those for any other year. In fact, they were identical to those in 1997.The data would be better represented on a 2D-bar chart, with appropriate labelling on each
axis:
What is wrong with this pictogram showing the number of people who own different types of pets?
On this pictogram, there is no category for people who do not own a pet. The pictures are different sizes, and it appears that more people own a horse than any other animal.An improvement would be to redraw the pictogram, with each of the animals the same size and aligned with one another like this:
What is misleading about these graphs?
Pizza Hot Dogs Hamburgers950
955
960
965
970
975
980
985
990
995
1000
Graph 1
Favorite Food
Num
ber o
f Vot
es
Pizza Hot Dogs Hamburgers0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
Graph 2
Favorite Food
Num
ber o
f Vot
es
SCALE IS TOO SMALL which makes it look as though Hot Dogs are the favorite food by 3 times over Pizza and 6 times over Hamburgers. If the SCALE IS TOO BIG, its hard to make a distinction as to which is the favorite!
Pizza Hot Dogs Hamburgers950
955
960
965
970
975
980
985
990
995
1000
Graph 1
Favorite Food
Num
ber o
f Vot
es
Pizza Hot Dogs Hamburgers0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
Graph 2
Favorite Food
Num
ber o
f Vot
es
Look how small the scale is!!!!Also, it doesn’t begin with 0.
No wonder Gold stores are cropping up all over!
3/1/2011
4/1/2011
5/1/2011
6/1/2011
7/1/2011
8/1/2011
9/1/2011
10/1/2011
11/1/2011
12/1/2011
1/1/2012
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000
Series 3Series 2Series 1
Comparison is much better.
So, what are ways that a graph can be misleading?
SCALE IS TOO SMALLSCALE IS TOO BIG
Pizza Hot Dogs Hamburgers950
955
960
965
970
975
980
985
990
995
1000
Graph 1
Favorite Food
Num
ber o
f Vot
es
Pizza Hot Dogs Hamburgers0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
Graph 2
Favorite Food
Num
ber o
f Vot
es
Pictograph pictures not the same size
3D MODEL CAN BE MISLEADING BECAUSE IT APPEARS THE BAR IN FRONT IS MUCH LARGER THAN IT REALLY IS.
VERTICAL SCALE IS NOT EVEN or doesn’t begin with ZERO.
To sum it up:
GRAPHS CAN BE MISLEADING WHEN:
• DOES NOT BEGIN WITH “0” ON THE VERTICAL AXIS
• VERTICAL AXIS HAS UNEVEN INTERVALS• 3D MODEL CAN BE MISLEADING• PICTOGRAPH HAS PICTURES THAT ARE
DIFFERENT SIZES• SCALE IS TOO SMALL• SCALE IS TOO BIG
WHY ARE GRAPHS INTENTIONALLY MISLEADING?
Related Documents
