3.2 Graph Crimes#

Example 1#

What’s wrong with this graph?

example 1

Suggested reasons

  • The x-axis does not start at zero, so it greatly exaggerates the difference between countries.

  • We are not given any uncertainties, so we cannot tell how confident we should be in the differences between countries.

Example 2#

What’s wrong with this graph?

example 2

Suggested reasons

  • The x-axis scale suddenly changes from linear to logarithmic. This creates the impression that growth among the top income brackets is spread across a much wider range than it actually is. We should actually see more of a sharp increase for a very small fraction of the population.

  • The grid lines add to this impression, as they are spaced out in a way that makes the scale is uniformly spaced.

Example 3#

What’s wrong with this figure?

example 3

Suggested reasons

  • The scale of the humans is misleading.

Example 4#

What’s wrong with this figure?

example 4

Suggested reasons

  • There is too much information. It is difficult to understand the main points the figure is aiming to convey.

Example 5#

What’s wrong with this figure?

example 5

Suggested reasons

  • The use of a line graph is misleading. The data is actually categorical, so a bar chart would be more appropriate.

  • The y-axis is not labelled. We can’t tell immediately what the axes are.

  • The x-axis is confusing. There is too much precision in the numbers, and they should not be evenly spaced.

  • The font is hard to read.

You can find more examples of bad graphs at @graphcrimes.