Question

Social mediaThe Pew Research Center surveyed a random sample of U.S. teens and adults about their use of social media. The following pictograph displays some results. Explain how this graph is misleading.

Short answer

We anticipate that the height of a person's image will correlate with their use of social media (because this is the variable we wish to convey).

However, this is not the case, as each image depicts the average height of people in various age groups rather than the variable of interest, leading to the graph being misled.

Step-by-step solution

Step 1. Given information.

The given pictograph is:

Step 2. Explanation.

We expect the height of a person's image to match their use of social media (as this is the variable we wish to represent) in the above graph.

This is not the case, because each image shows the average height of the persons in the age categories rather than the variable of interest, which causes the graph to be misleading.

For example, the image of a person aged 13 to 18 is smaller than all other photographs, despite the fact that people aged 13 to 18 have a higher percentage of social media users than three of the four other age groups.