Misleading Diagrams

Misleading Diagrams

Can you really believe what you see?

Why is this diagram misleading?

Multiple Choice

Why is this diagram misleading?

• I don't know.

• They are all different animals.

• The animals are of different sizes.

• It is not possible to have half an animal.

Why is this diagram misleading?

The animals are of different sizes. Thus, it might give readers the impression that the number of elephants is equivalent to the number of flamingos as the rows are of the same length.

Why is this diagram misleading?

What can you say about the data?

Multiple Choice

What can you say about the data?

• Sales of APL is twice that of SON.

• People like APL phones 4 times as much as NOK phones.

• The sale of SON phones is 2/3 that of APL phones.

What can you say about the data?

The scale of the axis does not start from zero. Thus, it gives readers the impression that the monthly sales of APL is 4 times that of NOK.

Did Mobile App A or Mobile App B have a greater increase in the number of active users?

Poll

Did Mobile App A or Mobile App B have a greater increase in the number of active users?

• Mobile App A

• Mobile App B

Mobile App A!

While the increment is only 22%, the original users of mobile app A was already significantly more than that of mobile app B.

The advertisement claims that the toothpaste brightens your teeth in a short amount of time.

Explain why their claim might be false based on this diagram.

Multiple Select

Explain why their claim might be false based on this diagram.

• The y-axis does not start from zero, exaggerating the increase.

• The graph flattens, which shows that it might not increase a lot.

• The brightness of teeth only increased by 20, which is not a lot.

• There is no unit of measurement for brightness of teeth.

• There is no value on the x-axis, thus there is no indication of the amount of time that has passed.

Explain why their claim might be false based on this diagram.

1. The vertical axis does not start from zero -> exaggerates the increment.
2. 'Brightness of teeth' is not a common scientific unit of measurement -> cannot evaluate improvement.
3. Time axis has no scale -> cannot determine if time is short.