Question

Example of a document that misuses graphics. Discuss how the graphics are misused and what could be done to better them.

Please blot out any sensitive information and names

Subject: Business and Technical Report Writing

Answer 1

1. Omitting the baseline

Omitting baselines, or the axis of a graph, is one of the most common ways data is manipulated in graphs. This misleading tactic is frequently used to make one group look better than another.

In the data visualization world, this is known as a truncated graph.

Truncating graphs can make something that is not very significant look like a massive difference.

2. Manipulating the Y-Axis

A common trick of the graph manipulator is to blow out the scale of a graph to minimize or maximize a change. This is known simply as axis changing in the data visualization world.

Axis manipulation is almost the opposite of truncating data, because they include the axis and baselines but change them so much that they lose meaning.

This is a very powerful tool on social media and can be used to push a false narrative.

3. Cherry Picking Data

Another way to skew data is by only including certain parts of the data in your misleading charts or graphs. Usually, it is only the data that puts your viewpoint in a positive light or your opponent’s in a negative light.

For example, only including a month where there was a sales spike and not the rest of the yearly data.

Or only sharing misleading poll results that make a certain person look favorable to everyone. But when you take a harder look at this graph, it only includes people from his own party:

4. Using The Wrong Graph

So far, I have talked about intentional misinformation tactics that writers use to push their agendas.

Now I think we should take a look at types of misinformation that can happen through sheer incompetence.

This usually involves picking a type of graph or chart that does not fit the data you are trying to present. And more often than not, the misunderstood pie chart is to blame for this.

It is not the pie chart’s fault that it can be so misleading–it’s the people who think it can be used for any and every type of data.

5. Going Against Conventions

To conclude our list of misleading data visualization tactics, I thought it would be a good idea to look at misleading graphs and charts that alter long-held conventions or associations.

If you are a little confused with what I am talking about, think about a graph where red represents Democrats and blue represents Republicans.

It would be pandemonium!

Or a simpler example is using green for losses, and red for profits.

That would make no sense to a competent graph maker but would be a great tool to manipulate an audience.

eg -

New Misleading Coronavirus Graphs

There’s a ton of data out there about the COVID-19 pandemic right now. And as time goes on, there’s going to be an overwhelming amount of data shared across the world.

That means that there are probably going to be some misleading graphs shared as well.

You will probably see a lot of these on social media, in news articles and on network TV.

Some of these are going to be intentionally misleading to shift the blame around, but others are misleading because the creator doesn’t know how to visualize data correctly.

We should aware the readers of such kind of practices that before believing to any kind of graphical firstly they should research deeeply and confirm that it is sure or a false or misleading data.

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