Question

In a current newspaper or magazine, find two examples of graphs that might be misleading. Explain why you think the graphs are potentially misleading.

Short answer

Because two-dimensional data is shown in three dimensions, 3D graphs can be misleading.

When all of the bars in a bar graph are truncated, the graph becomes misleading since it is impossible to see how significant the difference between two groups is.

Step-by-step solution

Concept introduction

A graph is a visual illustration or schematic that aggregates info or attributes into a right progression.

Explanation

Deceptive graphs can be purposefully misleading, or they can simply be the result of somebody not comprehending the data underlying the graph they've created.

A misleading graph, also known as a distorted graph, is a graph that misrepresents data, resulting in a misuse of statistics and the possibility of drawing an inaccurate conclusion from it. Excessively complicated or badly produced graphs might be deceiving.

The "traditional" varieties of deceptive graphs include those in which the vertical scale is overly large or narrow, skips digits, or does not begin at zero.

The graph is incorrectly labelled.

Information is missing.

However, some real-life misleading graphs go beyond the standard types.

Some are meant to deceive, while others are meant to shock. And in some circumstances, well-intentioned people simply got it wrong.