Question

Discuss the ethical issues one should consider when creating a graph from data. Provide two examples of how individuals could be unethical in the graphical display of data and explain why each is unethical.

Answer 1

There are ethical issues in graphical representation of data because of problems with the data itself and misleading observations from the graph. Dince the data is usually collected through surveys, there may be errors in reporting or bias in sampling. For instance, most survey data are npt reliable for studying income distribution of the rich because the rich usually underreport or not report at all. A graph showing the income distribution among the rich may show too much clustering along the lower end, resulting in bias. Another problem is when a graph created is inappropriate for the purpose of the study. For instance, if you create a line graph to show the relationship between income and education, it may be too messy to interpret or may not give any revealing insights. Perhaps a bar graph may be better for the purpose. These kind of misleading interpretations may result due to bad choice of graphs.