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Learn the tricks to manipulate graphs for a desired narrative! This adaptation reveals graphing techniques to convey different messages using the same data. Understand the impact of truncated, stretched, and pictorial graphs. Explore how visuals can mislead and master the art of truthful graphing.
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How to Lie with G raphs Adapted from How to Lie with Statistics By Darrell Huff, Pictures By Irving Geis
Here is a graph... Company Earnings
Easy to Understand, but... Company Earnings not very impressive......
That’s better.... Company Earnings In this “Truncated Graph”, the line climbs halfway up the graph. But why stop there?......
Now THAT’S Company Earnings a PROFIT!
Same Data....... very different graphs.
It all depends... on what you want to say...
Here is a simple honest graph.... Average Worker’s Salary Dollars per day Showing that American workers earn twice as much as Rotundians
Average Worker’s Salary Dollars per day but it lacks EYE-APPEAL...
Average Worker’s Salary How about a pretty PICTOGRAPH? Twice as many moneybags means twice as much money earned...
Average Worker’s Salary But I want to create a stronger impression of how much better-off the American worker is...
So I draw the Rotundian’s moneybag... Average Worker’s Salary
Average Worker’s Salary and then I draw the American worker’s moneybag TWICE as TALL
..so the American’s salary Average Worker’s Salary appears to dwarf the Rotundian’s! (...that’s not being dishonest, is it?)
Here is a simple graph showing changes in a frog population Number of Frogs
...and another pictograph... How might this graph create an incorrect impression?
How to Lie with G raphs
Use Truncated Graphs (graphs that don’t start at zero) Use Stretched Graphs or Scrunched Graphs Use Pictographs (w/ objects that get wider and taller) ...just don’t get caught...