Arrow charts and slope charts are alternatives to multiple pie charts when the data consist of the values or the percentage breakdown of several categories for two time periods.
Arrow charts and slope charts are alternatives to multiple pie charts when the data consist of the values or the percentage breakdown of several categories for two time periods.
One of my earliest posts was Thinking Outside the Chart Menu. In it I mentioned that while menus and chart-choosers might be very useful to novices at graphing data, there were three things worth keeping in mind: They discourage “thinking outside the menu.” They may include chart types that should never be used. They don’t [...]
Writers offer conflicting advice on data visualization in blogs and books. I present an example where an alternative figure has at least as many problems as the figure being criticized.
The finalists and the winner of the bad graph contest are announced. All of the entries had serious problems so choosing a winner was difficult.
Linked micromaps are collections of small maps linked to corresponding plots. They were developed by Dan Carr and are an extremely useful tool that belongs in the toolbox of anyone who plots geographically referenced data. Linked micromaps make it possible to identify specific geographic patterns in the data that are often lost with other types [...]
A staggering number of really bad graphs are drawn daily. Some are the fault of the designers but often the software used to produce the graph is to blame. Use the comment area or email me at naomi at nbr-graphs.com with your nomination for the worst graph produced by a commercial software program. Thanks to [...]
Graphs that are not drawn to scale mislead the reader. This post shows another example of a graph where the visual representation of the numbers is not proportional to the numbers themselves.
Pie charts are rarely the best way to show data and multiple pie charts are even worse. A back-to-back bar chart presents the percentage of male and female reviewers in literary magazines collected by Vida. It shows the data in a more space efficient manner that facilitates comparisons of interest.
Since it is tax day I chose a chart from the IRS for my comments today. Figure 1 shows the chart with the labels cropped out. The wedges of a pie chart add to 100%. Please estimate the percentage of each wedge without the help of labels. Also, please list the wedges in size order. [...]
