
Thursday 11th April 2024
Representing data in graphs or charts is a powerful way to get across key information to your audience. We learn about an array of visualisations at school (make a bar chart of your class' favourite colour!) and are told to keep the graph 2D, the intervals equal and have clear labels so it's not misleading. We assume in the professional world people are sticking to the rules we learned at school but unfortunately that's not the case. Individuals or companies use misleading graphs to lead their audience to an incorrect conclusion. Famously in the US, Purdue Pharma, the producer of OxyContin, used a logarithmic scale instead of linear to convince doctors that their pain relief drug didn't cause the same highs and lows that can lead to addiction. When viewed on a linear scale it was clear their drug was no different to other opioids. I believe it's important that we teach people to look at data with a critical eye and not just take it at face value.Â
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References:
1. Cabanski C., Gilbert H. & Mosesova S. (2018) Can Graphics Tell Lies? A Tutorial on How to Visualize Your Data. CTS 11(4): 371-377